Brazilian iron ore and pellet producer Samarco produced 7.5 million mt of pellets during the first 11 months of 2022, a 5.6 percent increase from the same period in 2021.
The company remains operating at 26 percent of its production capacity, still recovering from an accident in 2015, with the collapse of the Fundão dam in the state of Minas Gerais and is now in the second year of operation after the stoppage.
The company invested an estimated $580 million during the period, to maintain operations and continue with the works to decommission the Germano dam, among other items.
For 2023, the company has plans to produce between 8 and 9 million mt of pellets, with additional investments of $310 million, for more decommissioning works. It expects that the return to full capacity will occur until 2028.
According to Samarco CEO, Rodrigo Vilela, “in this second year of our resumption of operations, we achieved operational stability, overcoming performance expectations and achieving more efficiency and a competitive operational cost.”