Brazilian iron ore and mining company Vale has announced its operational results for the first quarter of the current year. In the first quarter, Vale’s iron ore production amounted to 59.6 million mt, decreasing by 23.9 percent as compared to the previous quarter and down 18.2 percent on year-on-year basis.
In the first quarter of 2020, Vale's pellet production amounted to 6.93 million mt, falling by 43.1 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year and down 26.4 percent compared to the last quarter of 2019, due to the voluntary stoppage of the Tubarão 1 and 2 plants and pellet feed availability amid the rainy season in the Northern System and the partial stoppage of the Brucutu plant.
In the first quarter of this year, Vale’s iron ore sales decreased by 6.8 percent year on year to 51.66 million mt, declining by 33.7 percent on quarter-on-quarter basis.
According to the statement by Vale, the coronavirus outbreak affected the company’s businesses in a limited manner in the first quarter of 2020. However, there were some direct impacts on the company’s operations in this period. Accordingly, Vale provisionally halted its operations in the Teluk Rubiah Maritime Terminal in Malaysia, but production was not affected by this situation, while the company decided to postpone plans for coal processing plant maintenance in Mozambique.
Vale has revised its guidance for iron ore fines production in 2020 to 310-330 million mt from 340-355 million mt and its pellet production guidance to 35-40 million mt from 44 million mt due to the shortfall in production in the first quarter this year, delays in the resumption of halted operations, such as Timbopeba and Fabrica, and delays in the implementation of alternatives for the disposal of tailings by the Brucutu plant, which is not expected to be completed until the end of the second quarter of 2020, as well as additional impacts from the Covid-19 outbreak related to the risk of increasing absenteeism.
The resumption of production in Timbopeba, expected to occur in the first quarter of 2020, was postponed to the second quarter of the year, while the dry processing operation at the Fábrica and Vargem Grande pellet plant operations are expected to resume in the third quarter of this year.