The three units Samarco pelletizing joint venture

the three units Samarco pelletizing joint venture The St. Louis production expanded by 15.1% over the previous quarter due to expansion of supply of iron ore from Carajas to 1.6 million tons. Vargem Grande, which started operations in late March 2009 and has a nominal capacity of 7 million tons, is completing the process of “ramping up”. In the first nine months of the year, accumulated production is 4.1 million tonnes.

Vale also said that the three units Samarco pelletizing joint venture, in which CVRD has a 50% stake, has total nominal capacity of 21 million tons and are operating at full capacity. “Samarco record levels and production was attributed to the Valley of 2.897 million tons in the third quarter, which resulted in a 15% increase over second quarter of this year,” he says. We produced 9.1 million tons of blast furnace pellets and 4.5 million tons of direct reduction pellets.

“We are currently building two new plants, Oman and Tubar?o VIII, which will add 16.5 million tons to the total capacity of the Valley,” says the company. The pelletizing plant in Oman is expected to start operations in the second half of 2010, with production capacity of 9 million tons of direct reduction pellets. “During the week of Oct. 11, the ship Ore Moatize, belonging to our fleet left the port of Tubar?o bound for the Middle East with 147,000 metric tons of iron ore. This is the first food shipment to the pelletizing plant in Oman “he said.