Vale said this week in a document filing that pellet producer subsidiary Samarco could resume operations by 2020. Samarco is a 50/50 joint venture between Vale and BHP Billiton.
Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman said this week at an industry event there are indications Samarco will not have issues getting pending documents, which are required for a restart. Once production resumes, Schvartsman said Samarco would resume production at a limited rate before gradually increasing output.
Samarco halted production in November 2015, following a deadly iron ore waste dam burst that killed 19 people. Recently, a top BHP Billiton executive said it was unlikely Samarco would resume operations in 2019.
Separately, Samarco said it commenced works at its Alegria Sul pit, which is expected to store about 16 million mt of iron ore waste.