Brazilian newspaper Folha de San Paulo reported Thursday that Brazilian miner Vale plans to process 80 million tons of iron ore waste from tailings dams in the Minas Gerais state in Brazil. At that current international iron ore price of US$147.30/metric ton, Vale could earn as much as US$4.5 billion from the project.
According the report, the iron ore waste has an average grade of 35 percent Fe, but will rise to 62 percent Fe after processing. Once processed, it can be sold as iron ore dust or converted into iron ore pellets used in blast furnaces for steelmaking.
The project is slated to begin in 2013.