Speaking in a conference with analysts, Eduardo Bartolomeu, CEO of the Brazilian miner Vale, said the company plans to achieve a production pace of 100 million mt per year of pellets and briquettes in 2030. The total volume is expected to reach between 36 million mt and 40 million mt in 2023.
Bartolomeo mentioned that two of Vale’s eight pellet plants, located in Tubarão, in the southeastern state of Espirito Santo, were already converted to the production of briquettes, adding that the company is developing plans with prospective partners in the Middle East to produce 30 million mt per year of briquettes in the region in 2032.
That volume is sufficient to produce 20 million mt per year of hot briquetted iron (HBI), to be used in steel production via the direct reduction route.
Bartolomeo also informed that Vale has plans to produce HBI in the Açu Port, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, but this would depend on natural gas prices.