Anglo American suspends contract with Bahrain Steel after pipeline spills
Rio De Janeiro/Dubai — Anglo American has suspended a contract to supply Bahrain Steel with iron ore, the Gulf-based company said, in the latest headache for the miner’s troubled Brazilian project after spills from a pipeline that carries the commodity to port. The contract is worth nearly $1bn a year, according to Reuters calculations using average realised prices reported by Anglo for its Minas Rio mine in 2017. Bahrain Steel, which produces iron ore pellets for steel makers, said the London-based miner declared force majeure in April on the contract, which locks in a 20-year supply of 13-million tonnes of iron ore a year.
Anglo froze operations at Minas Rio in Minas Gerias state in March after two leaks were discovered in a pipeline that carries iron ore in slurry to an export terminal in coastal Rio de Janeiro. The suspension of the Bahrain contract underscores the severity of Anglo’s problems with the project, purchased at the height of the commodities boom a decade ago f...
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