Samarco, a Brazilian pellet producer owned by Vale and BHP Billiton, expects to obtain a definite license this month, a government official said this week. Espírito do Santo state governor, Renato Casagrande, said he met with Samarco CEO in Belo Horizonte to discuss the company’s restart.
“I was told that by October 25 (Samarco) will get the definite license (it needs) to resume operations in Anchieta,” Casagrande said.
Casagrande confirmed Samarco would resume operations by the second half (H2) of 2020, as previously reported by SteelOrbis. Samarco will likely resume operations with 26 percent its total capacity, the governor said.
Samarco has not unveiled an exact or even an estimated timeline for it to resume operations, as a restart depends on pending licenses.