Brazil's Vale working to fully resume capacity of Timbopeba iron ore mine

Vale SA has started commissioning activities to increase the production capacity of the Timbopeba operation within its Mariana iron ore complex by 7 million tonnes per year, to 12 Mt/y.

The commissioning process for Timbopeba's wet processing production will last for two months, the mining giant said March 12.

In March 2019, Vale halted its Timbopeba operations in the wake of the fatal dam breach at the Feijao iron ore mine in January 2019. Dry processing operations resumed in May 2020.

In line with regulations, Vale said the operation will continue to dispose of tailings generated by wet processing in the Timbopeba pit, a bedrock with a self-contained structure.

Vale aims to resume 400 Mt/y of production capacity by late 2022.