Venezuelan state-run iron ore producer CVG Ferrominera Orinoco (FMO) said this week that year-to-date output reached 149,253 mt by the end of March, a level not seen since June 2016. The company’s iron ore processing facility operated at 86 percent capacity by the end of the period.
Ferrominera said it shipped so far 54,750 mt of iron ore to Sidor, the country’s state-owned steelmaker and the company’s largest domestic consumer.
Additionally, the Venezuelan government said Ferrominera is currently studying the use of other mining materials as alternatives to iron ore. Those include tin and coltan, a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted.