Dow Jones reported that UK based Zamin Ferrous has put a huge iron ore mine planned in Uruguay on ice due to an intense debate over the plans in the small South American country.

Mr Fernando Puntigliano GM for Zamin's Uruguay unit Aratiri said that the banks, which had planned to finance the USD 3 billion project, have recommended the company shift its focus to other projects in Asia due to resistance to the project in Uruguay.

He added that "For Zamin, this was the main project, but now it will move down to fourth place as the priority goes to Asian projects. All the noise is impacting this and other investment."

Environmental groups have lashed out against the mine, and some local politicians have proposed nationalizing the steel industry.

He said that while the timeline will be much slower, Zamin is still committed to building the mine once it can obtain all the needed permits. While the privately held company has hit a roadblock in Uruguay, on June 16th 2011 it announced its first export of iron ore to mainland China.

The ore was mined at Zamin's Zamapa project in the northern Brazilian state of Amapa, where the potential resource is greater than 300 million tonnes.

(Sourced from www.dowjones.com)