Vale to reopen Carajas iron ore rail track

Tuesday, 20 Mar 2012

Bloomberg reported that Vale SA said that it will reopen operations at a railroad that transports production from the world’s largest iron ore mine after an accident lowered shipments by 300,000 tonnes.

It said “Vale has taken all the necessary measures to restore the railway traffic.”

Vale said “Traffic at the Carajas railroad in northern Brazil will resume and the expected iron ore shipment loss is relatively small. The company may be able to offset the loss by increasing shipments from other ports such as Tubarao, Ilha de Guaiba and Itaguai.”

Vale shut the Carajas railroad after part of a bridge it was building next to the railroad collapsed March 16 when 7 workers suffered light injuries.

The railroad links the Carajas mine with the Ponta da Madeira port in Brazil’s northeastern state of Maranhao, from which Vale exports iron ore to clients as far away as Asia. Vale produced a record 109.8 million tonnes of iron ore in Carajas last year, or about 34% of its total output.

Source - Bloomberg