???23 Dec 2019 23:33
Investegate |Anglo American PLC Announcements
RNS Number : 7457X
Anglo American PLC
23 December 2019
23 December 2019
Anglo American receives operating licence for Minas-Rio tailings facility
Anglo American announces that it has received the next phase of its operating licence for its Minas-Rio tailings facility in Brazil, following the work to raise the dam as part of the Step 3 licence area of the mine. The regulatory authorities in Brazil granted the installation licence for this work in January 2018 and the construction work was completed in accordance with that licence in August 2019.
Seamus French, CEO of Bulk Commodities at Anglo American, said: "This is an important milestone for our Minas-Rio iron ore operation in Brazil towards reaching its full potential. Minas-Rio has a long asset life of 48 years and produces a high grade, premium quality product for our customers, supporting lower emissions in the steel industry. We expect Minas-Rio to produce 23 million tonnes in 2019, with an FOB unit cost of c.US$24 per tonne."
The Minas-Rio tailings dam uses a downstream construction design and is an embankment dam structure, built using compacted imported earth-fill material, with carefully selected granular materials for the drainage and filter zones. Tailings are not used to build the dam, and instead construction materials are placed in controlled layers. This is a conservative and high quality design for a tailings dam, being designed and built as a water-retaining type of dam.
For further information, please contact:
Media
Investors
UK
James Wyatt-Tilby
james.wyatt-tilby@angloamerican.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 8759
Marcelo Esquivel
marcelo.esquivel@angloamerican.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 8891
Katie Ryall
katie.ryall@angloamerican.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 8935
South Africa
Pranill Ramchander
pranill.ramchander@angloamerican.com
Tel: +27 (0)11 638 2592
Sibusiso Tshabalala
sibusiso.tshabalala@angloamerican.com
Tel: +27 (0)11 638 2175
UK
Paul Galloway
paul.galloway@angloamerican.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 8718
Robert Greenberg
robert.greenberg@angloamerican.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 2124
Emma Waterworth
emma.waterworth@angloamerican.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 8574
Notes to editors:
Minas-Rio operates a comprehensive tailings safety management programme, as required by Anglo American's rigorous Group Technical Standard, and in line with the Brazilian legislation and best practices around the world. It includes daily inspections, weekly instrument reading and geotechnical inspections at least every two weeks, as well as quarterly inspections performed by the Engineer of Record. In addition, a Technical Review Panel, composed of three experienced specialist engineers, provides an independent review at least once per year. The construction work and other aspects related to the faci