Brazil's mining giant Vale reported a decline in iron ore output in the third quarter on equipment failure at one of its operations and a temporary stoppage for maintenance at another.

The company's iron ore production totaled 86.24 million tonnes over the quarter, down 3.9% from the same period last year, yet up 9.5% from the second quarter of this year, according to its quarter report.

Production of iron ore pellets, recognized as a premium production, rose 11% year on year to 9.2 million tonnes, which was 0.7% higher than the second quarter.

Vale achieved total sales of iron ore amounting to 69.7 million tonnes in the third quarter, rising 6.6% year on year and 10% quarter on quarter. Sales of iron ore pellets totaled 8.6 million tonnes, up 1.1% YoY but down 2.2% QoQ.

Vale faced production challenges during this period notably in their Northern System operations. A one-time failure of the conveyor belt system resulted in a decline of 1.5 million tonnes of output compared to the previous year. In addition, production from the Southern System operation fell 2.6 million tonnes due to a maintenance stoppage of a tailings pipeline.

Despite the production challenges, Vale reported an encouraging rise in the average realized price for their iron ore during the third quarter, reaching $105.1/t, a 14% rise compared with the previous year. But that for iron ore pellets fell 17% to $161.2/t.

(Writing by Alex Guo  Editing by Emma Yang)
For any questions, please contact us by inquiry@fwenergy.com or +86-351-7219322.

Share this article

Connect with us