Brazil’s Vale resumed operations at its Viga concentration plant in Congonhas, Minas Gerais on Oct 1, after a six-day stoppage.
Vale had temporarily suspended operations at Viga on Sep 24 in accordance with a court decision. The court overturned its ruling and allowed the plant to restart operations after Vale fulfilled all the legal requirements related to the facility’s permits, the miner said in a statement on Oct 2.
The Viga iron ore concentration plant can process 11,000mt of ore per day, according to the South American company. Vale plans to achieve an annual iron ore capacity of 400mn mt by intensifying production from all of its operations. The mining company’s current production capacity is 318mn mt a year.
In August, Brazil’s crude steel production rose by 6.5pc to 2.70mn mt, from 2.53mn mt, produced in the same month last year, according to the latest World Steel Association data.