MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Vale resumes full operations at Brucutu mine easing pressure on iron ore markets

Vale shares were up 1.1% in early trading in Sao Paulo, touching a two-month high and outperforming the broader benchmark Bovespa index

Brazilian miner Vale SA said on Wednesday that it will fully resume operations at its Brucutu mine within 72 hours after an appeals court overturned an earlier ruling that halted processing because of concern about the safety of a nearby dam.

In a corporate filing, Vale also reaffirmed its 2019 iron ore and pellets sales guidance of 307 million to 332 million tons, and said that sales should be around the midpoint of that target range, up from its previously forecast low end of the range.

“The (Supreme court) decision will enable the full resumption of wet processing operations at Brucutu within 72 hours, thus increasing the average quality of Vale’s product portfolio,” the miner said.

Vale shares were up 1.1% in early trading in Sao Paulo, touching a two-month high and outperforming the broader benchmark Bovespa index which was down 0.2 on the day.

Brucutu was shuttered in early February at the request of prosecutors in the state of Minas Gerais after a tailings dam burst in late January in the town of Brumadinho, killing more than 340 people.

The mine has been producing iron ore at an annual rate of 10 million tons, or a third of its total capacity, since then using “dry processing,” which does not produce the muddy waste byproduct that traditional mining does.