Vale announced on Friday that it has received an operating license (OL) for its S11D iron ore project, located in the city of Canaa dos Carajas, in the state of Para. The document was signed on Friday by Brazil's federal environmental agency, Ibama.
Vale said both the mine and the plant reached a 96 percent physical completion in October 30, 2016, and tests with cargos are now “successfully progressing.”
A train with 110 wagons was loaded with about 10,000 mt of the commodity, Vale said, adding the first commercial shipment expected to take place in January 2017.
Ibama said the license includes an authorization for Vale to extract iron ore, the project’s beneficiation plant, accesses, sterile stacks, dams as well as other supporting structures at the body D of Serra Azul in the national forest of the Carajas, in the city of Canaa dos Carajas, in the state of Para.
Ibama said Vale expects to produce 90 million mt/year of iron ore; Vale’s license is valid for 10 years. Ibama added that Vale’s S11D iron ore project does not include an iron ore waste dam, as the Samarco plant did.
Additionally, a Vale top executive said this week Samarco expects to receive a preliminary environmental license by the first quarter (Q1) of 2017, in an effort to resume operations by mid-2017.