Brazil-based Samarco will make its first shipment of iron ore pellets to Europe in the next few days, after resuming activities after five years following the failure of Fundão dam.
Renato Casagrande, governor of Espirito Santo state, announced during a visit to Samarco’s facilities on Jan 6 that the company will export 75,000mt of pellets to Europe, a media report noted.
Vale, which jointly owns Samarco with BHP estimated iron ore production levels of 22-24mn mt per year by 2029. similar to volumes before the Fundão dam accident in November 2015.
Brazil’s iron ore shipments rose by 32.4pc to 33.1mn mt in December 2020, from 25mn mt in the same month of 2019, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Economy.