Brazil-based miner Vale has announced its operational results for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2020.
Accordingly, the company has reported iron ore production of 84.5 million mt in the fourth quarter, falling by five percent compared to the previous quarter and up 7.9 percent year on year. The decrease is due to higher rainfall and production restrictions.
In 2020, the company produced 300.4 million mt of iron ore, decreasing by 0.5 percent year on year. The production level was in line with 2019 levels as a result of the resumption of the halted ramp-up of operations. These positive effects were fully offset by constraints in Itabiro and Brucutu, and by the impacts of the coronavirus.
In 2020, Vale’s pellet production totaled 29.67 million mt, decreasing by 29 percent compared to the previous year, as a result of lower pellet feed availability from Vale’s sites and production adjustments according to market conditions.
Meanwhile, in the given period, Vale’s metallurgical coal production fell by 33 percent year on year to 5.87 million mt.
Vale said its iron ore sales volumes in 2020 fell by 5.4 percent year on year to 254.86 million mt, while its pellet sales in the same period totaled 31.21 million mt, down by 27.7 percent on year-on-year basis. In the fourth quarter, Vale’s sales of iron ore and pellets reached 91.3 million mt, achieving record sales to China in the given quarter, totaling 64 million mt.
Considering production restrictions, Vale ended 2020 with 322 million mt of production capacity and expects to achieve 350 million mt capacity by the end of 2021. Vale stated that, although the pandemic-related impacts and measures reduced productivity in all businesses and postponed, in 2020, the start-up of the new iron ore assets, it remains confident of achieving an annual 400 million mt capacity by the end of 2022.
Meanwhile, the company stated that Vale and Minas Gerais state have defined potential settlement terms, regarding the dam burst in Brumadinho. The government of Minas Gerais state expects Vale to pay compensation to end the Brumadinho dispute, as SteelOrbis previously reported.