Perak to send EIA team to Vale’s Brazil plant

Perak will be sending an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) team to visit Vale SA’s mining facilities in Brazil in July or August, senior executive councillor Datuk Hamidah Osman said.

“I will visit Vale together with the EIA technical team as instructed by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

“If the outcome from the visit is positive, I think the second EIA report will be passed,” she told Bernama when asked for an update on Vale’s plan to set up an iron ore distribution centre in Teluk Rubiah near Lumut, Perak.

Vale is the second largest diversified metals and mining company in the world. It was reported that the first phase of the project, set to kick off this year, will involve US$900 million (RM3 billion) in capital expenditure.

Hamidah is on a trade and investment mission to Wenzhou and Shanghai, China, from May 10 to 15.

She said the visit to Brazil was to see Vale’s facilities and its technology “to ensure the plant that will be built in Perak will not pollute the environment”. Vale was confident that it would meet the EIA requirements, she added.

She said the state government would be looking to engage with local stakeholders as soon as it received the outcomes from the visit.

Hamidah said the land and port deals had been virtually sealed and the state government had in early this year requested for a supplementary EIA from Vale.

Vale had provided a preliminary EIA some time ago but Perak was asking for another report as it was a huge project. — Bernama