Anglo American won environmental regulatory approval to operate a slurry pipe at its Minas Rio iron ore project in Rio, Brazil. The approval is a crucial step in meeting a deadline to enter production by the end of the year, Reuters reported.

Getting the required licenses for the slurry pipe have delayed the project and pushed it over budget.

"The receiving of the operating licence for the slurry pipe is a very important step toward first production of iron ore at Minas Rio," said Pedro Borrego, Anglo American's director of corporate affairs for iron ore in Brazil.

The slurry pipe approval came from Ibama, Brazil's environmental agency.

Anglo American said it was still waiting on the operating licence for the mine and processing plant.

The miner reiterated that production will start by the end of the year, saying 95 percent of the work needed to begin production was already done. The mine will have a capacity of 26.5-Mt/a which should be reached within 18 to 20 months of starting.

Production for next year is forecast at between 11-million and 15-Mt.

Anglo is investing around $2.2-billion in 2014 on the project, with a further $1-billion marked for next year, which will take the total cost to about $8.8 billion.

When the company first bought into the project seven years ago it predicted the mine would be in production by the end of 2009, with a total cost of $2.35-billion.