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(Bloomberg) -- Chilean officials unanimously rejected a mining and port project in the latest twist in more than a decade of legal and regulatory deliberation over a $3 billion investment that pitted environmental protection against economic growth. In a case that also laid bare the involvement of politics in Chile’s permitting procedures, members of a ministerial committee voted against the Dominga iron ore and copper project in a session held Wednesday. The committee was comprised of undersecretaries after an environmental court annulled a 2023 determination by ministers to reject the project, citing a lack of impartiality by two members.
Local environmental regulators approved the project in 2021 before the Supreme Court opted to leave the decision in the hands of ministers. The authorities’ handling of Dominga, in which former President Sebastian Pinera once held an indirect stake, has become a cautionary tale in a country that otherwise boasts strong institutions and clear rules. In 2017, Finance Minister Rodrigo Valdes was among senior officials to resign after a cabinet split over a decision to block the project.
The controversial project is controlled by Chile’s Delano Mendez family and featured in the Pandora Papers investigation into the secret offshore accounts of heads of state and business leaders. Its plans include a daily mineral capacity of 95,000 metric tons, a desalination plant and port terminal, employing 1,450 people when up and running in 2030. The location is near habitats for whales, dolphins and Humboldt penguins.
Andes Iron, the project’s operating company, is seeking strategic partners to ensure the sale of future production, according to its website. “We continue to trust that justice and the rule of law will prevail and that our project will be able to materialize,” Andes Iron said in a statement distributed before Wednesday’s decision. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.
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