BRAZIL: Plans to build a 32∙4 km line to carry mineral traffic in Minas Gerais have been submitted to national land transport agency ANTT. Linking Itaùna to Igarapé to the southwest of Belo Horizonte in the so-called Iron Quadrangle, the project has been put together by mining, agricultural and property group Cedro Participacões.
The proposed line, to be known as Ramal Serra Azul, would be built to 1 600 mm gauge and would be designed to handle 25 million tonnes of ore a year. Trains would connect into the network operated by MRS Logística which gives access to the port of Santos in São Paulo state as well as other ports.
Mining companies in the area through which the line would pass include ArcelorMittal Mineração, Ipê, Comisa, Musa and Minerita, all of which currently rely on road transport to move ore to railheads on the MRS network.
Cedro Participacões envisages a fleet of five unit trains, each with up to 132 wagons of 100 tonne capacity. Expected to cost R$1∙8bn, the line would have two loading yards with conveyor belts taking ore from the mines to the loading areas.
Speaking to Brazilian news outlet Valor, Cedro Participaões President Lucas Kallas described the project as ‘an emblematic investment for iron mining in Minas Gerais’. The railway would bring ‘social and environmental benefits to the region’ thanks to a reduction in the number of lorries using local roads, currently estimated to be 2 500 a day, he said.
The railway would cut shipping costs for ore producers and reduce emissions of CO2 by up to 50 000 tonnes a year, according to José Carlos Martins, a special advisor on mining at Cedro Participações.
