Brazilian miner Vale is revising its annual iron ore production guidance for 2022 to a range of 310-320 million mt, against previous perspectives in a range of 320-335 million mt.
According to the company, the review is in line with its “value over volume philosophy” and includes the effect of the recent sale of its Central Western System to J&F Mining, with a negative impact of 3.5 million mt in its annual production.
During the second quarter of 2022, Vale’s iron ore production increased by 17 percent from the previous quarter to 74.1 million mt, ascribing the gain to the good performance of its Southeastern and Southern Systems during the dry season, seasonally favorable for mining activities, while the production during the first quarter was severely affected by intense rainfall in the southeastern region.
The production of pellets increased by 25.1 percent to 8,672 million mt under the same comparative basis, reflecting the reduction of maintenance activities in the Oman plant, coupled with increased availability of pellet feed fines in the Vargem Grande plant.