Samarco to double pellet output capacity by Q1 2025, CEO says

Brazilian miner Samarco will invest 1.3 billion reais ($263 million) to double its iron ore pellet output capacity to 18 million metric tons per year by the first quarter of 2025, chief executive Rodrigo Vilela told Reuters on Thursday.

The firm, a joint venture between Vale and BHP, aims to double its share of the transoceanic pellets market to 18%, which would place it among the three largest producers in the world, he added. Currently, it operates with 30% of output capacity, which should rise to 100% in 2028.

“With this investment, we put Samarco back on the level of a major global producer”, Vilela said.

The mining company had already last month announced total 2023 investments of 1.6 billion reais, up from 1.3 billion reais last year.

The move comes after the mining company in December 2020 resumed operations after five years of stoppage following the collapse of an iron ore tailing dam in the southeastern city of Mariana, which killed 19 people and severely polluted the Doce River with mining waste.

In May, Brazilian miner Vale said it had entered into a binding deal on the parameters for a planned debt restructuring at Samarco.

(By Marta Nogueira; Editing by Isabel Woodford and Conor Humphries)