Anglo American to ship 160,000 tonnes of Minas-Rio iron ore in December

Anglo American will export 160,000 tonnes of iron ore from Brazil’s 26.5 million-tpy Minas-Rio project in December.

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“Two cargoes of 80,000 tonnes of iron ore will be shipped in Panamax vessels next month,” the president of the iron ore unit in Brazil, Paulo Castellari, said on Monday November 3.

The destinations of these exports were not disclosed, but Anglo American has previously confirmed that Minas-Rio output has already been sold to pellet producers in the Middle East and China.

From January 2015 onwards, cargoes will be shipped in Capesize vessels carrying 150,000 tonnes of iron ore, Castellari said.

The miner delivered the first iron ore shipment from Minas-Rio in late October 2014, a year later than previously expected.

Anglo American expects to produce 560,000 tonnes of iron ore from Minas-Rio in 2014.

For 2015, the target for the project is to produce 11-14 million tonnes of iron ore, before reaching its 26.5 million-tpy nominal capacity in 2016, according to the company.

Once operating Minas-Rio at its full capacity, Anglo American will start optimising activities, eyeing an output capacity of 30 million tpy.

“After that [optimisation process], the company will start considering an expansion,” Castellari said.

He did not disclose details about any plan for such an expansion, but said that the Minas-Rio project has the potential to achieve an ultimate iron ore capacity of 90 million tpy.

Anglo American’s project in Brazil includes a 525km slurry pipeline to transport output from the landlocked Minas Gerais state to the Açu Superport, on the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro state, where its Ferroport iron ore terminal is located.

Ferroport is a 50:50 joint venture between the miner and Prumo Global Logistics, formerly known as LLX.