Mineração Usiminas (MUSA), the iron ore business of Brazilian flats steelmaker Usiminas, has inaugurated a facility that uses a dry stacking system. The facility, located at its Itatiaiuçu iron ore mine, uses a system that doesn’t require the mine to have a dam to store iron ore waste.
MUSA said it invested about BRL 235 million ($41.4 million) for its so-called “filtering” facility, which is attached to the plant’s iron ore beneficiation process. The company described the dry stacking system as a “more modern” way of operating an iron ore business.
Using this system, MUSA sends the iron ore waste to its filtering plant, where part of the water is filtered, and returns to the plant’s production process. The filtered waste then goes to a conveyor belt and is stocked under a pile. It will later be transported to a dry compact, stock piling area. This area will, at a later staged, be reforested.
Usiminas said it started studying the dry stacking system for its Minas Gerais mine in 2016.