Vale´s Serra Sul project is approved

Vale’s board of directors approved the implementation of the Serra Sul 120 Project, located in the municipality of Canaã dos Carajás (PA), Brazil. It consists of increasing the capacity of the mine and the S11D plant by 20 million tonnes per annum, leading to a total of 120 Mtpa on the site. The project has investments with a multiyear value of US$1.5 billion and is expected to start-up in the first half of 2024. It includes: (a) the opening of new mining areas; (b) duplication of the long-distance belt conveyor (TCLD); (c) the implementation of new processing lines at the plant; (d) expansion of storage areas, among other measures.

The Serra Sul 120 Project will create an important production capacity buffer, ensuring greater operational flexibility in the face of eventual production or licensing restrictions in the Northern System. According to the company, the investment to duplicate the existing TCLD, in the amount of US$385 million, in addition to bringing flexibility, also brings important elements of reducing operational risk, thus adding reliability to the system.

The Project will anticipate investments in a mine-plant that, together with the logistics solution under development, aims to increase the total capacity of the Northern System by 20 Mtpa, to 260 Mtpa. The expansion of the mine-plant capacity and the development of additional logistical capacity are important steps towards the growth of iron ore volumes, maximization of margins, and optimization of flight-to-quality.

With the anticipation of the Serra Sul 120 Project and the delay in the execution of projects in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vale informs that it will revise and update, in due course, its investment guidance in 2021, currently at US$5 billion, and in the period between 2022 and 2024, with an average of US$4.5 billion.

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