Anglo American delivers first ore on ship

The first cargo of more than 80,000 tonnes of iron ore for the pellet feed market has been loaded onto a chartered vessel at the dedicated export terminal at the port of Açu in Rio de Janeiro state and the vessel is currently en route to customers in China.

Mark Cutifani, chief executive of Anglo American, said: "Delivering FOOS from Minas-Rio is a remarkable achievement from our team and is one of our three major commitments to our shareholders this year. Minas-Rio has an exceptional resource in terms of scale and ore quality, producing some of the highest quality pellet feed available for our customers across the Middle East and Asia, providing us with a clear competitive advantage.

We believe that the outlook for our particular premium product remains attractive, despite the current weakness in the iron ore price, and that the fully integrated operation of Minas-Rio - from mine to port - will enable us to sustain our low operating cost position over the long term."

Paulo Castellari, CEO of Anglo American's Iron Ore Brazil business, added: "I am delighted that we have shipped our first ore from Minas-Rio and that is testament to the incredible effort and dedication of the entire team, including our contractors, JV partners and suppliers, and the support of the regulatory authorities and government in Brazil over many years. We are now focused on achieving a safe ramp-up to the 26.5 Mtpa capacity over the next 18-20 months and on the regular cycle of licence and permit renewal required for a mining operation of our scale in Brazil as we transition into operational mode."