Brazilian iron ore miner Vale will halt operations at the Vargem Grande complex sooner than was scheduled, the company said on Monday February 4.
This was one of the mines already included in the company's decommissioning plan for tailings dams, but its stop has been brought forward, Vale added. Mine output has been stopped immediately although the decommissioning process could take two or three years.By halting operations at the facility, in the state of Minas Gerais, some 13 million tonnes per year of iron ore output will be eliminated. Vale is the world's largest iron ore producer and had previously published an estimate of 400 million tonnes of iron ore production in 2019.Taking into account all 10 of the tailings dams that Vale intended to decommission, and the end of their respective mining operations, the negative consequences for the company's total output could reach 40 million tonnes per year. The...