Vale reinstates operating licenses for key nickel, copper mines in Brazil
The operating licenses for Onça Puma and Sossego had been suspended in February by the Secretary of the Environment of the State of Pará (SEMAS) due to alleged non-compliance with environmental conditions. Although the licenses were briefly reinstated for four days in February, they were suspended again on March 1, according to Vale's separate releases on April 3 and April 15.
Following a disruption of over three months, the licenses are expected to be reinstated within 48 hours of the company's announcement by the environmental authority. Vale plans to resume operations as soon as possible and will implement social-environmental measures as outlined in the agreement with the authorities.
In fact, Onça Puma had been halted since last October for a furnace rebuild, which was scheduled for completion in mid-March. As of April 16, the electrical furnace on site was heating up, and the plant was on track to resume operations in early May.
In the first quarter of this year, Vale produced a total of 39,500 tonnes of nickel, a 4% decrease from the same period last year. This decline was primarily due to the Onça Puma furnace rebuild, partially offset by stronger performance at the company's Canadian and Indonesian operations, as per Vale's Q1 financial report.
During the same period, Vale's Sossego mine produced 12,300 tonnes of copper, a plunge of 42.5% from Q4 2023 and a 7.5% decrease from Q1 2023. The decline was due to a scheduled maintenance shutdown and lower ore grades, as expected.
As for now, the specific impacts of the license suspensions on the two mines during the second quarter have not yet been publicly stated, Mysteel Global noted.
Written by Adele Pan, panqinjie@mysteel.com
Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com
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