Brazilian iron ore miner Vale has said at a conference organized by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) that it will launch a new product, a high grade iron ore called 'GF88', hematite or ground fines used for pelletizing, in the first quarter of 2020.
Media reports quoted Marcello Spinelli, Vale’s ferrous minerals executive director, as saying that the company expects the pellet ratio used in Chinese blast furnaces to increase from 14 percent in 2018 to 19 percent in 2025.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Vale was allowed to restart its Brucutu mine in June, recovering 30 million mt per year of production capacity and it expects that the 30 million mt per year of dry processing production will be gradually resumed starting by the end of this year and the remaining 30 million mt per year is estimated to return in about two to three years.
Vale’s iron ore and pellet sales guidance stand at 307-332 million mt in 2019.