Coquimbo’s regional council (CORE), a regional government council in Chile, said it will politically support a $2.5 billion banned iron ore project, SteelOrbis has learned.
Thirteen CORE members voted to support the Andes Iron project, also known as Dominga, which has been under both public and legal scrutiny over the last few years. Despite being symbolic and non-binding, the political support might help Andes Iron gain ground in a legal dispute that has delayed the project for years.
Counselor Antonio Sulantay said he is confident the project has always met all legal and environmental requirements and should be implemented as soon as possible.
“Such an initiative would represent an extraordinary opportunity to (help the region) over the deep economic and social harm that Covid-19 brought to Chile and the world,” Sulantay said.
The $2.5 billion project aims to produce up to 12 million mt of iron ore per year. Local environmental regulator SEA was the first reject the project in March 2017. Then, Coquimbo’s environmental commission also banned it. In August 2017, a minister council maintained the project ban.
Since then, Andes Iron had been appealing the case. More recently, in May 2018, an environmental court ordered the project to be re-evaluated, followed by a Chilean not-for-profit (NGO) organization asking for a ban on the project. Chile’s TC denied the NGO request.
Due to the recent setbacks, Andes Iron admitted recently it would be willing to give up a port project it expected to develop near the proposed Dominga mine to move on the project.