Belo Horizonte, Brazil-based steelmaking and mining giant Mineração Usiminas announced January 20 that the company's joint venture with Sumitomo resulted in a record production year for Usiminas in 2010 of 6.8 million net tons (nt) of iron ore produced-a 24 percent increase from 2009's output of 5.5 million nt.
Usiminas' long-term goal is to increase iron ore production capacity in its mines in the Serra Azul (MG) region to 29 million nt by 2015 through a series of investments. The first stage, which was approved by the Usiminas Board of Directors at the end of last year, involves a R$550 million (US$328 million) investment to increase production capacity to 12 million nt per year by 2012 through the construction of a pellet feed concentration plant and new sinter feed processing facility.
Usiminas plans to invest a total of R$4.1 billion (US$2.4 billion) by 2015 to reach its production goals, and is currently finalizing studies to build a pellet plant to convert current iron ore output into pellets to be used for steelmaking.