Australian miner BHP Billiton has announced that Brazilian pellet producer Samarco, a 50/50 joint venture with Vale, had met the licensing requirements to restart operations at its Germano complex in Minas Gerais and its Ubu complex in Espírito Santo. The company commenced iron ore pellet production after five years of suspension amid the Fundão dam disaster in November 2015.
Samarco reactivated concentrator No. 3 at the Germano and pelletizing plant No. 4 at Ubu plant for the gradual restart of the operations. The company expects initially to produce 7-8 million mt of iron ore pellets per year, which represents about 26 percent of its total productive capacity.