Brazilian pellet producer Samarco, a 50/50 joint venture between Vale and BHP Billiton, produced 5.8 million mt of pellets in the accumulated period of January to September this year.
The volume represents 54 percent the company’s capacity pre-Mariana disaster; in January-September 2015, Samarco produced 10.7 million mt of pellets. The Mariana dam burst killed 19 people in November 2015 and halted output at Samarco for five years.
Samarco expects pellet output to reach 8 million mt by year-end.