Overview
Stage | Restarting |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
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Mining Method |
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Processing |
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Mine Life | 2053 |
Vale and BHP cleared for Samarco iron ore restart. Vale says its joint venture Samarco Mineração SA division has been given clearance to restart operating activities at its Germano Complex, in Minas Gerais, Brazil, some four years after a dam collapse shuttered the operation.
Following the implementation of the filtration process, and subject to shareholder approval, Samarco currently expects to restart its operations around the end of 2020, Vale says.
Samarco expects to be able to restart operations through one concentrator and produce some 7-8 Mt/y following the installation of the filtration technology. |
Latest News | BHP, Vale cleared to resume Samarco operations October 28, 2019 |
Source:
p. 78
BHP Billiton Brasil Limitada and Vale S.A. each have a 50 per cent shareholding in Samarco Mineração S.A. (Samarco), the owner of the Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil.
Summary:
Itabirite ore type.
Samarco’s Alegria mine complex and Germano mine, located in Mariana, Minas Gerais, is in the same region as Vale's Southeastern System - Quadrilatero Femfero (Iron Quadrangle).
Ore reserves with high ratios of itabirite ore relative to hematite ore type. Itabirite ore has iron grade of 35-60%.
The Quadrilátero Ferrífero (QF) comprises an area of about 7000 km2 and hosts one of the largest concentrations of lateritic iron-ore deposits in the world. The QF is located in central Minas Gerais state, southeastern region of Brazil (Dorr, 1965). The QF has a quadrangular shape due to the dome and basin structures of the Minas Supergroup. Most of the iron ore in the QF are hosted in the oxidized, metamorphosed and heterogeneously deformed Banded Iron Formations (BIFs) of the Cauê Formation, the so-called itabirites. The BIFs are altered sedimentary deposits with laminated rocks formed by alternating layers of silica and hematite magnetite, as well as carbonates and iron silicates.
The Quadrilátero Ferrífero is located at the southeastern border of the São Francisco Craton, southeastern Brazil (Fig. 1). According to Alkmim and Marshak (1998) the most important lithostratigraphic units of the Quadrilátero Ferrífero are: (1) the Archean crystalline basement, (2) the Rio das Velhas Supergroup, (3) the Minas Supergroup, (4) the Post-Minas Intrusives and (5) the Itacolomi Group.
Basement crystalline rocks include a gneiss/migmatite complex and two generations of voluminous Late Archean plutons: calk-alkaline and anorogenic granites (Alkmim and Marshak, 1998). The Rio das Velhas Supergroup consists of greenstone (basalt and komatiite), rhyolitic lava and intercalated sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary units of the Rio das Velhas Supergroup include Algoma-type banded-iron formations (BIFs), carbonates and siliciclastics. The Minas Supergroup is a metasedimentary unit that unconformably overlies the Rio das Velhas Supergroup. According to Alkmim and Marshak (1998), the Minas Supergroup strata resist erosion, forming ridges that tower above the regions which are underlain by less resistant basement or greenstone rocks. These characteristics of the Minas Supergroup shaped the geomorphology of the southern Brazil highlands giving rise to high relief in this region. Alluvial conglomerate and sandstone made up the basal units of the Minas Supergroup. These units grade upward into shallow-water marine pelites of the Tamanduá and Caraça Groups. The Lake Superior-type Cauê banded-iron Formation lies on Caraça metasediments. The Cauê Formation is a carbonate sequence of the Gandarela Formation. Lying locally unconformably on the Gandarela Formation, the Piracicaba Group comprises a thick pile of shallow-water and deltaic strata. Separated from the Piracicaba Group by an unconformity, the Sabará Group is a thick sequence of turbidites, tuffs, volcaniclastics, conglomerates and diamictites derived from a source to the east–southeast. The PostMinas intrusives comprise thin, undated, pegmatite veins cutting Minas rock (Alkmim and Marshak, 1998; Herz, 1970). Finally, the Itacolomi Group is a unit consisting of alluvial sandstones, conglomerates and minor pelites (Dorr, 1969) deposited in intramontane grabens (Alkmim and Martins-Neto, 2012).
Source:
Summary:
The two beneficiation plants, located at the site, process the run-of-mine by means of standard crushing, milling and concentration steps, producing pellet feed and sinter feed.
Conveyor systems are used to extract the ore and convey it from the mines. Ore beneficiation then occurs in concentrators, where crushing, milling, desliming and flotation processes produce iron concentrate. The concentrate leaves the concentrators as slurry and is pumped through the slurry pipelines from the Germano facilities to the pellet plants in Ubu, Anchieta, where the slurry is processed into pellets. The iron ore pellets are then heat treated. The pellet output is stored in a stockpile yard before being shipped out of the Samarco-owned Port of Ubu in Anchieta.
Recoveries & Grades:
Commodity | Parameter | 2015 | 2014 |
Iron Ore
|
Recovery Rate, %
| ......  | ......  |
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Projected Production:
Vale S.A. of operations at the Alegria mine were suspended by the ANM in March 2019 but, in November 2019, the ANM reversed its decision, authorizing us to resume production of approximately 8 million metric tons of iron ore per year of production capacity.
Commodity | Units | 2015 | 2014 |
Iron Ore
|
Mt
| 25 | 24 |
All production numbers are expressed as pellets.
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2019 | 2015 | 2014 |
Annual production capacity
| ......  | | |
Ore tonnes mined
| ......  | 25.4 Mt | 26.2 Mt |
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Reserves at June 30, 2019:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
Measured
|
3,340 Mt
|
Iron
|
39 %
|
Indicated
|
2,150 Mt
|
Iron
|
37.2 %
|
Inferred
|
950 Mt
|
Iron
|
37.2 %
|
Total Resource
|
6,440 Mt
|
Iron
|
38.1 %
|
Financials:
| Units | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
Revenue
|
M USD
| ......  | 30 | 28 |
937
|
2,810
|
3,269
|
Operating Income
|
M USD
| ......  | -1,558 | -1,520 |
-2,182
|
1,283
|
1,337
|
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Mine Management:
Job Title | Name | Profile | Ref. Date |
.......................
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.......................
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|
Jun 22, 2020
|
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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News:
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