Brazilian iron ore pellet producer Samarco, a 50/50 JV between Brazil’s Vale and BHP Billiton, is running out of pellets, as its last shipment of the product to China is expected to be concluded in January, the company told local media.
According to the company, it still has 100,000 mt of pellets and some 50,000 mt of fines that are still stocked in the city of Ubu, in the state of Espirito Santo.
Samarco told local newspaper Valor its last shipments of pellets to China should be concluded in the first half of January.
Before the Mariana disaster in November, Samarco was selling all its output to the export market. In 2014, the company produced about 25 million mt of pellets.
The company said in November it should end its pellet inventories in the beginning of December. The company initially expected to continue pelletizing works at its Ubu unit through third party companies, however, the expected partnerships didn’t pan out.
Since the Mariana event, Samarco has not forecasted when it should resume pellet production.