The first ore from Anglo American’s Minas-Rio iron-ore project, in Brazil, has been shipped within budget, CEO Mark Cutifani said last week.
The more than 80 000 t of iron-ore for the pellet feed market had been loaded onto a chartered vessel at the dedicated export terminal at the Port of Açu, in Rio de Janeiro.
The vessel was now en route to customers in China.
This followed the receipt of an operating licence this month for the 525 km pipeline that transports the iron-ore, mixed with water in a slurry, to the company’s ore docks at the port.
Anglo would now turn its focus to the ramp up, over the next 18 to 20 months, to its first-phase capacity of 26.5-million wet tonnes a year of high-quality, low-contaminant iron-ore pellet feed.