OREANDA-NEWS. March 29, 2011. Over a thousand people participated in the public audience held in Sao Joaquim de Bicas (MG) last Tuesday (Mar 22) to discuss the MMX expansion project for the Serra Azul Unit, which foresees an increase in iron ore production capacity from the current 8.7 million tons/year to 24 million tons/year. The project is under the environmental licensing phase and awaiting the approval of the competent environmental agencies to begin the works.

During the public audience, the director of Development and Implementation of MMX, Antonio Schettino, presented to the local community information on the expansion project which will receive BRL  3.5 billion in investments between 2011 and 2016. Schettino detailed, point-to-point, all project phases, comprised of an ore processing plant with the capacity for 24 million tons/year, a long-distance conveyor belt, a railway terminal, a water main, power transmission line, and a storage yard.  

Schettino also explained that MMX made 24 thousand meters of drillings, with perforations 300 meters deep, to ensure the quality of the resources, the foundation for the implementation of the project. Recently, the company disclosed a study made by independent consultant “SRK Consulting”, which assessed that MMX had 909 million tons of iron ore in the Serra Azul Unit and an extra mineral potential of up to 570 million tons.

The Environmental Impact Study (EIA) of the project was presented by Brandt Meio Ambiente, independent company, in charge of the social, environmental and economic inventory of the region MMX will be installed the new structures. The company’s superintendent, Rene Renault, certified the environmental feasibility of the enterprise, highlighting the project’s major impacts, analyzed in six months of work. According to the EIA, the negative implementation impacts of the enterprise were found to be “insignificant” or “of minor impact”.

Project

The investment of BRL  3.5 billion will cover the costs of the erection of a new iron ore processing plant, a long-distance conveyor belt, a power transmission line, storage yard, railway terminal, and a water main to transport water from river Paraopeba to the enterprise, as well as other structures.

To achieve an annual production of 24 million tons, MMX will erect one of the largest and most modern iron ore processing plants in the world. It will also be the first compact itabirite processing plant in the country. The company will too build a long distance conveyor belt to convey the iron ore to the storage yard and railway cargo area.

MMX will build this system to reduce the use of road transportation, saving 260 thousand truck trips between company operations and railway terminals. According to the Environmental Impact Study (EIA), developed for this project, MMX will also reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, the emission of polluting gases and prevent the consumption of 12 thousand tires per year.

The railway terminal will have the capacity to ship 24 million tons per year and perform the integration between the mine and MRS trains, which will transport the ore to the Southeast Superport.  MMX is concluding the purchase of the port located in Itaguai, south coast of Rio de Janeiro. With the port, MMX becomes the consolidator of the Serra Azul region, one of the most traditional mining regions of Minas Gerais.