Brazilian iron ore and mining company Vale has announced its operational results for the second quarter and the first half of this year. In the second quarter, Vale’s iron ore production amounted to 64.1 million mt, falling 33.8 percent year on year, mainly as a result of the impact of the Brumadinho dam rupture and the unusual weather-related conditions in the Northern System in April and early May. In the given period, Vale's pellet production amounted to 9.07 million mt, down 29.3 percent compared to the same quarter of 2018, mainly due to the full stoppage of the Southern System pellet plants during the quarter, abnormal rain in the Northern and Southeastern Systems as well as maintenance carried out at the Tubarão plants.
In the first half of the current year, Vale produced 136.93 million mt of iron ore, down 23.4 percent, while its pellet output decreased by 17.1 percent to 21.25 million mt, both year on year.
In the second quarter, Vale’s iron ore sales decreased by 15.5 percent to 61.95 million mt, while sales in the first half declined by 18.8 percent to 117.36 million mt, both year on year.
According to its statement, Vale made substantial progress concerning the 93 million mt per year of iron ore production capacity stopped in the first quarter, with the resumption of its Brucutu operations on June 22, recovering 30 million mt per year of production capacity. Regarding the 60 million mt per year currently curbed, Vale expects that the 30 million mt per year of dry processing production will be gradually resumed starting by the end of this year and the remaining 30 million mt per year, which includes wet processing, is estimated to return in about two to three years.