Andes Iron is a Chilean exploration and mining company with two major projects in
Chile. The Dominga project is a proposed open-pit
copper mine with accompanying processing plant,
desalination plant,
slurry pipeline
A slurry pipeline is a specially engineered pipeline used to move ores, such as coal or iron, or mining waste, called tailings, over long distances. A mixture of the ore concentrate and water, called slurry, is pumped to its destination and the w ...
s and an export
port.
History
Planning
Minería Activa Uno Spa began investing in the
prospecting phase for new mines in 2008.
Mediterráneo Fondo de Inversión (FIP), the largest investor of Minería Activa Uno Spa, agreed with establishing a mine at the Santa Dominga Norte y Sur area in the town of
La Higuera
La Higuera (; ) is a small village in Bolivia located in the Province of Vallegrande, in the Department of Santa Cruz. It is situated in the La Higuera Canton (civil parish) belonging to the Pucará Municipality.
Geography
The village is situ ...
.
In 2009, Chilean businessman,
presidential candidate and soon-to-be
president of Chile Sebastián Piñera began to invest in Andes Iron through Mediterráneo Fondo de Inversión (FIP) according to
Radio Bío-Bío.
The project was quickly challenged by
environmentalists, including the marine conservation organisation
Oceana, for its potential to impact the
Humboldt Penguin National Reserve and the wider marine ecology of the area, which they describe as a marine
biodiversity hotspot. The project's environmental license was rejected in 2017.
Approval
The government of President Sebastián Piñera, who was elected for a second non-consecutive term, successfully appealed the rejection of Dominga's environmental license and the company was expected to start work on the Dominga project by 2020. The company stated that it would be prepared to concede its proposed port at Totoralillo, Coquimbo if Compañía Minera del Pacífico, a subsidiary of Chilean iron producer CAP, was permitted to construct their proposed Cruz Grande port nearby.
Pandora Papers
In the Pandora Papers leak of 3 October 2021, President Piñera was named in the revealed documents.
According to Spanish newspaper ''
El País
''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...
'', Chilean media organizations ''CIPER'' and ''LaBot'' allegedly documented that Piñera was involved in "particularly controversial activity".
The Pandora leak reported that Piñera sold Minera Dominga to his friend since childhood, Carlos Alberto Délano, shortly after entering the presidency in 2010.
It was reported that a small transaction was first made in Chile while two subsequently larger payments were made in the
British Virgin Islands.
In response to the leak, Piñera's business manager said that Piñera had not been in control of his own companies for about twelve years and that he was not aware of the sale of Minera Dominga to his friend Carlos Alberto Délano.
Ownership
The company's other project, Iman, is a prospective iron ore mine. It is owned in a 50-50 partnership with Minería Activa. Andes Iron is majority owned by the Delano Mendez family (74%), with minor interests held by the Garcez Silva family (14%), and the company's directors (11%).
References
{{Reflist, 30em
Mining companies of Chile
Pandora Papers