Anglo American restarts iron-ore operation at Minas-Rio, Brazil

According to Mining News Pro - The pipeline has also undergone pre-emptive repair of certain sections of the and the receipt of the appropriate regulatory approvals has been achieved. The inspection of the entire pipeline by specialist pipeline inspection devices (PIGs), and the analysis of the collected data by expert teams drawn from Brazil and internationally, confirmed the pipeline’s integrity.

Anglo American confirms it had taken a responsible approach and pre-emptively replaced a 4km stretch of pipeline where the two leaks of non-hazardous material had previously occurred, as well as a small number of individual sections of pipe where the PIGs detected minor anomalies below the normal threshold for intervention.

Furthermore, Anglo American has shortened the intervals for future inspections by PIGs from five years to two years to ensure the long-term integrity of the pipeline, while also fitting a fibre-optic system of acoustic, temperature and vibration sensors along critical sections of the pipeline to monitor its performance.