Posted on 15 Dec 2020
Brazilian iron ore miner and pellet producer Samarco has begun commissioning of two concentration plants and the new tailings disposal system at the Complexo de Germano in Minas Gerais, Kallanish notes. The company is planning to restart its pellet operations by end-December.
“The president of Samarco, Rodrigo Alvarenga Vilela, informed me that the company will resume its mining activities as of today [December 11],” said Mariana city mayor Duarte Eustáquio Gonçalves Júnior. “There will be no ceremony or event that marks the restart, complying with the Covid-19 protection measures and also respecting all the relatives and victims of the dam accident.”
Samarco is expected to produce 7-8 million tonnes/year of iron ore in 2021.
The miner halted production in November 2015, after a tailings dam burst which killed 19 people and flooded areas in two states in southeast Brazil. Samarco Mineração is co-owned by Vale and Australia's BHP Billiton.
Source:Kallanish
