Aethel Mining

Aethel Mining is a British mining company headquartered in London and owned by Ricardo Santos Silva and Aba Schubert. Aethel Mining is the operator of the Torre de Moncorvo mines in Portugal, the largest private iron ore deposit in Europe.

Operations and production
The mine currently produces iron ore.

Proven reserves and production expansion
The Torre de Moncorvo mines have proven and probable reserves of 558 million tons, with an additional 254 million tons of possible reserves.

Economic impact
The reserves of the Moncorvo mines are currently valued at approximately 58.2 billion euros. This valuation corresponds to about one-third of the wealth in Portugal, highlighting the potential economic impact of the mine's development and operation on the local and national economies.

Rio Tinto negotiations
In 2011, Rio Tinto made an offer of over 1 billion euros for the Torre de Moncorvo mines. However, Rio Tinto later decided to withdraw from the project, opting to focus on a narrower range of mine developments, such as iron ore projects in Western Australia and Guinea, and the Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia.