CFO states that miner will place caution before capacity as it looks to press forward with its recovery from deadly 2019 dam catastrophe.
Brazilian miner Vale SA will place caution before capacity as it seeks to avoid driving down the iron ore market and presses forward with its recovery from a deadly dam break in 2019.
Speaking at an interview during the Reuters Commodity Trading Summit, Luciano Siani, chief financial officer for Vale, says that the miner is prepared to raise its capacity using safer and less polluting methods to 450 million tonnes in about five years – almost 50 percent more than forecast production for 2020.
“We are going to be responsible and we are not going to overflow the markets with iron ore,” he adds, asserting that the miner would not use full capacity if an expected surge in manufacturing-driven Asian demand does not materialise.
“The intent is not to oversupply the markets towards 450 (million tonnes). It is to have the capacity available to meet the market if the need be,” Siani explains.
As the only global iron ore miner with sizeable plans to expand capacity, Vale’s production decisions affect prices of steel products around the world. Its path to growth includes new mines in the north of Brazil, as well as reviving production at some of its older mines in the country’s traditional mining heartland of Minas Gerais.
In the third quarter of this year, the miner briefly recovered its status as top global producer after raising output slightly above its Australian competitor, Rio Tinto, the Reuters report points out….
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