Vale SA said Jan. 16 that it decided to stop the operations of the waste and tailings pile at the Esperança iron ore mine in Brazil, soon after the company took control of Ferrous Resources Ltd. last year.

Vale said that it took the preventive measure to conduct a technical evaluation and carry out work to improve safety at the site.

The Esperança mine has a processing plant with an annual production capacity of around 1.2 million tonnes of iron ore.