Anglo American: Minas Rio Iron Ore Mine Restarts

Anglo American (LSE:AAL) has announced the resumption of operations at its Minas-Rio iron ore operation in Brazil.

The restart of the integrated iron ore operation follows an extensive and detailed technical inspection of the 529km pipeline that carries the iron ore in slurry form from the mine to the port, the pre-emptive repair of certain sections of the pipeline, and receipt of the appropriate regulatory approvals. The inspection of the entire pipeline by specialist pipeline inspection devices, and the analysis of the collected data by expert teams drawn from Brazil and internationally, confirmed the pipeline’s integrity.

As quoted in the press release:

Anglo American has taken a responsible approach and has pre-emptively replaced a 4km stretch of pipeline where the two leaks of non-hazardous material had occurred, as well as a small number of individual sections of pipe where the pipeline inspection devices detected minor anomalies below the normal threshold for intervention. Furthermore, Anglo American has shortened the intervals for future inspections by pipeline inspection devices from five years to two years to ensure the long-term integrity of the pipeline, while also fitting a fibre-optic system of acoustic, temperature and vibration sensors along critical sections of the pipeline to monitor its performance.

Click here to read the full Anglo American (LSE:AAL) press release.