It is reported that Anglo American one of the world three largest mining groups warned that its Minas-Rio iron ore mining project in Brazil could cost up to 15% more.
The USD 5 billion project one of the world biggest is expected to start production in the second half of 2013 and reach full output of 26.5 million tonnes of iron ore pellet feed by 2014.
The project includes open pit mines and a beneficiation plant producing high grade pellet feed which will be transported, through a slurry pipeline over 500 kilometers to the Port of Acu in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Civil works for the beneficiation plant commenced in March 2011 and it was expected to take 27 to 30 months from commencement of these works to construct and commission the mine and plant. But while some progress has been made on the project, Anglo admitted that there could be some hiccups that would have a budgetary impact.
Original project costs have already risen from USD 3.8 billion in early 2010.
The group said in an update on its major project that “Minas-Rio has secured a number of major licenses and permits during the year, the offshore and onshore works at the port are on schedule more than 90% of land access has been secured along the 525 kilometers pipeline route and almost 200 kilometres of pipe has been installed and the civil works at the beneficiation plant are well under way.”
However, it cautioned that as with other complex Greenfield mining projects a number of irregular issues, such as the discovery of caves at the beneficiation plant site which require specialized assessment, continued to cause delays to the work scheduling.
(Sourced from www.iol.co.za)
