Vale Q2 iron-ore output nosedives 33.8% following Brazil dam break
SAO PAULO – Brazil's Vale said on Monday that its second-quarter iron ore production tumbled almost 34% from a year ago as many of its key dams remained all or partially shut down following a deadly dam burst in January.
The drop to 64.057-million tonnes came as several major mines including Brucutu, its largest mine in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, were at least partially shuttered for all or most of the quarter.
The world's top iron-ore exporter also said that quarterly sales of the key raw material fell 15.5% to 61.945-million tonnes.
Production at its giant mine in northern Brazil known as S11D and elsewhere was also hindered by "abnormal rain", the company said.
Vale, which was forced to take some 90 million tonnes of capacity offline after the dam burst in January, restarted full production at Brucutu late in the quarter, restoring some 30 million tonnes of yearly capacity.
Another 30-million tonnes may come back on line by the end of the year using "dry processing" methods that avoid the use of hazardous tailings dams, the company reiterated on Monday.
Iron ore pellet production fell 29% from the year-ago figure, Vale said. The company cut its full-year pellet output forecast to 45-million from a previously announced 60 million.
At the same time, Vale reaffirmed its previous full-year iron ore and pellets sales outlook forecast at between 307-million to 332-million tonnes.
While the lagging production and sales numbers have squeezed the company's bottom line, they have also contributed to tighter global supplies of iron ore which have lifted prices to more than five-year highs.
The output and sales figures come a little over a week before Vale's quarterly results.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation