Anglo American confirms discussions for partnership on Brazilian mine

Anglo American, which owns the Woodsmith Mine in North Yorkshire, said preliminary discussions are ongoing over the potential to jointly develop Vale's Serpentina iron ore resource, which is next to its own Minas-Rio iron ore operation in Brazil.

Vale said the potential deal could leverage Anglo's "processing and logistics infrastructure" from Minas-Rio, which includes a mine, a transport pipeline and a port in Rio de Janeiro state.

The Serpentina project is made up of mining rights in three municipalities in Minas Gerais state, to the east of the country.

Last month Anglo agreed to invest 800 million dollars (£596m) through to 2025 to improve pipeline, technology, civil works and future expansions on the site which was first bought by the company in 2008.

Anglo American's iron ore production in the three months to September 30 jumped by 15 per cent, including a 22 per cent rise at Minas-Rio to 6,099,500 tonnes.

The site is made up of a 529km long pellet feed-transporting slurry pipeline and the mine is expected to reach a capacity of 26.5 million tonnes by 2022, the company said previously.

Anglo American's Woodsmith Project involves digging two one mile deep mine shafts at Woodsmith Mine near the village of Sneaton near Whitby, and a 23 mile transportation tunnel to a processing facility and port on Teesside.

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