Brazil’s Samarco produced 20 million tons of pellets after restart in 2020

Brazilian mining and steel company Samarco has produced 20 million tons of pellets since resuming operations in December 2020. SteelOrbis reports about it.

During this period, the company shipped 200 ships with pellets to consumers in America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

According to Samarco, since the resumption of operations, the company does not use dams to retain waste in its production process. Instead, waste disposal through filtration and dry stacking was implemented. This process currently covers 80% of the company’s production. This was made possible by the installation of a filtration and stacking unit that was built specifically for this purpose. In the coming months, the company plans to cover 100% of emissions with this installation.

In 2023, Samarco plans to invest $330 million in sustainable development, including the decommissioning of the Germano Dam, which collapsed in 2015.

In 2015, Samarco stopped working due to the undermining of two tailing dams of the Fundao mine. The disaster is considered one of the largest in the history of the Brazilian mining industry.

At the end of 2020, the company announced the restart of a fourth of its existing capacities – 7-8 million tons of pellets per year. In five years, the company plans to start production of 14-16 million tons. The full capacity of 22-24 million tons will be achieved only after nine years.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Brazil as of May 2023 increased the export of iron ore by 40.8% compared to the previous month – up to 35.2 million tons. Compared to May 2022, the indicator increased by 38.3%. In January-May, 135.2 million tons of iron ore were shipped for export, which is 10.7% more y/y.

In 2022, Brazil reduced iron ore exports by 3.7% compared to 2021 – to 343.99 million tons. Export income for the year fell by 35.2% y/y – $28.92 billion.