Brazil’s Vale ups Q3 iron ore, met coal output

摘要

Brazilian mining giant Vale said Monday nits iron ore and coal operations performed strongly in the third quarter, with pellets nand coal output marking a record in the nperiod. Vale’s iron ore production reached n82.6 million mt in the July-September peri-nod, which is the second-highest quarterly nvolume since the 85.8 million mt seen in nQ3 2008 before the financial crisis kicked nin, the Rio De Janeiro-based company said. nIron ore pellet output was a record 13.6 nmillion mt in Q3 comprising 9.1 million mt nof blast furnace pellets and 4.5 million mt nof direct reduction pellets, it added. “The noperational issues at the discharge in the nPonta da Madeira maritime terminal were nsolved, allowing Carajas [iron ore] produc-ntion to rise to a record level,” Vale said. nIron ore output increased 8.9% on Q2 nvolumes, “primarily due to the outstand-ning performance of Carajas, which was nresponsible for 70% of the expansion,” it nadded. In the first nine months of 2010, nVale produced 227.5 million mt of iron nore, 30% up on the 174.5 million mt in the ncorresponding period of 2009, and 36.8 nmillion mt of pellets, a 144% increase over nthe same period last year, the company nsaid. Coal output reached a record 1.9 mil-nlion mt in Q3 2010, including 814,000 mt nof metallurgical coal from Australia.