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

Brazil Vale buys area in Para for new port -report

Saturday, Feb05 2011
BRASILIA Feb 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian mining giant Vale VALE 5.SA (VALE.N: Quote) has bought a massive area for the construction of a new port in the state of Para, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported on Saturday.

The Porto do Espadarte is still a "strategic opportunity" being studied, said Mauro Neves, planning director at Vale, according to the newspaper.
The project would help reduce the distance between the Carajas mines and shipment, the newspaper said, but faces opposition from environmental groups and others.

Neves added that any construction is unlikely to begin before 2015, according to the newspaper.
(Reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Will Dunham sourced:Reuters)