BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, Sept 12 (Askume) – Brazilian mining company Vale SA expects about 10% of its iron ore output to come from reusing tailings waste by 2030, reducing iron ore production.
The mining giant hopes to obtain about 7 million tonnes of iron ore by 2024 through its “circular mining” plan, Rafael Bittar, Vale’s executive vice president for technical affairs, said in an interview on Wednesday.
He did not give a specific estimate of how much iron ore would be produced from tailings and waste by 2030, but the expected increase in overall production from wells suggests production will increase in the coming years.
The company, one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, on Wednesday revised its outlook for 2024 and now expects output to reach 330 million tonnes this year. Annual production is expected to exceed 360 million tonnes after 2030.
“The aim of the plan is to reuse the waste that is already in our dams,” Bitar said at a mining conference.
Vale’s move to reduce tailings was spurred by the deadly collapse of two dams in Mariana and Brumadinho in 2015 and 2019 respectively, which killed hundreds of people and caused severe environmental damage.
A portion of the well tailings is deposited into the dam. Since the disaster, the company has been working to remove all upstream dams deemed to be at risk.
Vale alone produced 48.5 million tonnes of iron ore last year.
