Cedro Participações has received approval from Rio de Janeiro’s State Environmental Control Commission for the integrated environmental licence to build Porto do Meio, an iron ore export terminal at the Port of Itaguaí. The company called the licence the project’s most significant milestone to date, in a Brazilian permitting process for ports that is rigorous by regional standards. Cedro won the federal auction for the site, known as ITG02, in December 2024 and holds a 35 year lease, renewable for a further term.
The terminal carries an estimated investment of 3.6 billion reais, about 720 million dollars, and is expected to take three years to build, generating up to 3,000 direct and indirect jobs at peak construction. The licence covers an initial handling phase of up to 15 million tonnes a year, expandable to 24 million tonnes, across about 250,000 square metres with berths for vessels needing up to 20 metres of water depth. The name Porto do Meio, middle port, reflects its position between the existing Vale and CSN terminals at Itaguaí.
The site connects to the MRS Logística rail network, which links the Iron Quadrangle in Minas Gerais to the Rio de Janeiro coast. That connection is the strategic asset: it gives Cedro independence in exporting its own ore and a terminal it can offer to other miners whose production is stranded behind competitors’ logistics. Cedro targets annual iron ore production of 20 million tonnes by 2032 and plans to focus on pellet feed grade ore for pellet producers in Europe and the Middle East.
Jurisdiction watch: Brazilian environmental licensing is the stage where mining and port projects most often stall for years, so clearing it converts Porto do Meio from a concession on paper into a financeable project. The remaining risks are construction capital and the iron ore price itself, which slipped to a two year low earlier this month on weak Chinese demand and rising supply, including Guinea’s Simandou.