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Vale sees 10% of its iron ore production coming from tailings by 2030

Brazilian miner Vale anticipates that by 2030 some 10% of its iron ore output will come from the reuse of mine waste known as tailings, an executive told Reuters, lowering the quantity of possibly hazardous product still stored in dams.

In 2024, the mining huge expects to recuperate about 7 million metric lots of iron ore through its circular mining program, Vale's executive vice president of technical affairs, Rafael Bittar, stated in an interview on Wednesday.

He did not provide specific projections for just how much iron ore will be produced from tailings and waste by 2030, but the predicted boost in Vale's total production suggests the volume will likely leap in coming years.

The company, one of the world's biggest iron ore producers, on Wednesday revised its 2024 outlook upwards and now expects to produce up to 330 million heaps this year. From 2030 onwards, it sees yearly output of more than 360 million lots.

This program aims to reuse waste that is currently in our dams, Bittar said on the sidelines of a mining conference. This is a truth and it will come very strongly (for the market), so we anticipated it and created this program.

Vale's effort to minimize its tailing volumes gained ground after the fatal collapse of two dams in Mariana and Brumadinho in 2015 and 2019, respectively, which collectively killed hundreds and caused severe ecological damages.

Part of Vale's tailings are saved in dams. Considering that the disasters, the firm has been working to eliminate all its upstream dams, which are seen as riskier.

In 2015 alone, Vale generated 48.5 million lots of iron ore tailings.

(source: Reuters)