The Brazilian miner, Vale, produced 90.971 million mt of iron ore fines in Q3 2024, 5.5 percent more than in Q3 2023, while the production of pellets increased in the period by 12.9 percent to 10.363 million mt.
On a comparative basis, iron ore fines sales declined by 0.5 percent to 69.334 million mt, pellets sales increased by 17.8 percent to 10.143 million mt, and run-off-mine (ROM) iron ore sales increased by 5.3 percent to 2.351 million mt while the average sales price of the iron ore fines declined by 13.8 percent to $90.6/mt, and pellets declined by 8.1 percent to $148.2/mt.
According to the company, the production of iron ore during Q3 was the highest for a quarter since Q4 2018.
The company recently unveiled a guidance for iron ore fines production in a range of 323 to 330 million mt for 2024.
When comparing numbers from Q3 2024 to those of the previous quarter, the iron ore production increased by 12.9 percent, the pellets production increased by 16.5 percent, iron ore fines sales increased by 1.2 percent, pellets sales increased by 14.4 percent, and ROM sales declined by 2.7 percent.