Anglo American acquires Brazil iron ore resource

Anglo American will continue to control, manage, and operate the Minas-Rio operation, including any future expansions that relate to Serpentina.

Duncan Wanblad, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said: “The opportunity to partner with Vale to secure a high-quality iron ore resource of this scale and quality, right next door to Minas-Rio, is compelling – particularly given all the physical synergies of our mining and processing infrastructure to create a single optimised operation, combined with the option to access Vale’s rail and port logistics. The sheer scale and quality of the Serpentina orebody offers significant value, including through the scope to expand the production of the premium grade pellet feed products we sell to steelmaking customers as they focus on decarbonising their own processes for decades to come. The Minas-Rio DRI-grade product sells into one of the most attractive growth segments available in our industry today.”

Serpentina contains a Mineral Resource of 4.3 billion t of iron ore, with a significantly larger total endowment upside that reflects the total strike length of the orebody of more than twice that of Minas-Rio. Serpentina is also of a higher iron ore grade than Minas-Rio’s already high-grade ore and contains predominantly softer friable ore that together are expected to translate into lower unit costs and capital requirements for its extraction. The combination of the two resources also offers considerable expansion opportunities, including the potential to double production, which Anglo American and Vale will assess under the Transaction’s terms.

Eduardo Bartolomeo, CEO of Vale, commented: “We are pleased to partner with Anglo American to support the growing demand for high quality iron ore as our clients accelerate their transition to low carbon emissions steelmaking. Minas-Rio is a Tier-1 asset that will benefit from great synergies with Serpentina’s deposit and Vale’s logistics and we are confident this partnership will unlock significant value to all of our stakeholders. We plan on allocating our share of the high-quality pellet feed to our pellet plants in Brazil and in the future to the Mega Hubs producing iron ore briquettes.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/22022024/anglo-american-acquires-brazil-iron-ore-resource/