OREANDA-NEWS. March 11, 2011. The company will invest BRL 3.5 billion in the Serra Azul Unit and BRL 1.5 billion in the development of the Bom Sucesso project

MMX, a mining company of the EBX Group, owned by Eike Batista, announced today (12/13) that it will invest BRL 5 billion in projects in Minas Gerais by 2016. The announcement, which was made to the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), informs that the company’s Board of Directors approved the Investment Plan for the expansion of the Serra Azul Unit and the investment estimate for projects in Bom Sucesso (Minas Gerais) and in Chile.

In the Serra Azul Unit, located in the Quadrilatero Ferrifero of Minas Gerais, BRL 3.5 billion will be invested, net of taxes, which represents an investment of USD  79 per tonne. In this unit, investments will subsidize the construction of a new processing plant with an annual capacity of 24 million tonnes of iron ore, the construction of a railroad terminal and a ten-kilometer conveyor belt for transportation between the mine and the railroad terminal.

The Bom Sucesso project, which will be developed in the city of Bom Sucesso in the Mid-West of Minas Gerais, will receive an expected investment of BRL 1.5 billion, net of taxes, which will also represent an investment of USD  81 per tonne.

The acquisitions of fixed assets performed by the company will be exempt from PIS/Cofins, since MMX is sheltered by the Special Fixed Asset Acquisition Regime for Exporting Companies (Recap).

In the Serra Azul Unit’s operation expansion investments, the company’s Investment Plan establishes the following composition: 75% debt and 25% own capital.