Samarco to invest $271 million in capacity expansion

The board of directors of the Brazilian mining and steel company Samarco has approved an investment of 1.31 billion Brazilian reals ($271 million) to increase production capacity, informs SteelOrbis.

Approximately 560 million Brazilian reals will cost the installation for filtering waste and upgrading the enrichment plant, another 753 million will go to regular maintenance of production assets. During the current year, 248 million Brazilian reals will be invested, the rest of the amount is planned to be spent in 2024.

The company is currently operating at 30% of its nominal production capacity. It ceased operations due to the breach of two tailings dams of the Fundao mine. The disaster is considered one of the largest in the history of the Brazilian mining industry. In 2020, Samarco returned to production at a modest pace and is in the process of settling claims.

Full recovery of production and going to full capacity, according to Samarco CEO Rodrigo Villella, will be carried out gradually and safely, with special attention to the disposal of waste and in interaction with the population of cities in the states of Minas Gerais and Espiritu Santo.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Samarco produced 20 million tons of pellets since the resumption of work in December 2020. During this period, the company shipped 200 ships with pellets to consumers in America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Since the resumption of operations, the company does not use dams to retain waste in the production process. Instead, waste disposal through filtration and dry stacking was introduced. This process currently covers 80% of the company’s production.