Brazil-based mining giant Vale opened its new US$1.36 billion distribution center and pelletizing plant at the Port of Sohar Industrial Complex in the Sultanate of Oman on Saturday, March 3, according to a company statement.
The plant has an annual production capacity of 9 million mt of direct reduction pellets. The pelletizing plant and distribution center will help meeting growing demand for iron ore products in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, as well as India. The distribution center in the complex can handle 40 million mt per year.
The first pelletizing unit began operating in April 2011. To maximize the distribution center's capacity, Vale entered into a partnership with Sohar Industrial Port Company to build a 1.4 km deepwater terminal, which is one of the first ports in the world to receive Vale's 400,000 deadweight ton mega iron ore vessels used to transport iron ore from Brazil to the coast of Oman.