It said last week it had started commissioning to increase wet processing production at Timbopeba, part of its Mariana complex in Minas Gerais state.

The two-month commissioning process was expected to add 7Mtpa to Timbopeba to take its iron ore production capacity to 12Mtpa.

Timbopeba had been suspended in March 2019 as Vale faced increasing scrutiny following the fatal collapse of its tailings dam at Brumadinho in Minas Gerais which killed 270 people, for which it signed a US$7 billion global settlement in February. 

It had resumed partial operations at Timbopeba in May 2020 using dry processing.

Vale said the tailings generated by the wet processing would continue to be disposed of in the Timbopeba pit, "a bedrock self-contained structure".

Vale is aiming to increase the proportion of its iron ore production through dry processing to 70%.

Vale had produced 300.4Mt of iron ore fines in 2020, a year also impacted by COVID-19, just achieving the lower end of revised, reduced guidance of 300-305Mt.

Governance changes

Separately, Vale said it was moving "towards best corporate governance practices" as shareholders approved 13 amendments to its bylaws.

The process had begun in February 2017 when Vale moved to scrap its controlling shareholder bloc.

"This is a fundamental step to adapt Vale's governance to its new reality as a company with no defined control, with a board of directors formed with a majority of independent directors, and prepare it for the challenges in the coming years," chairman Jose Mauricio Coelho said on Friday.

Among the changes agreed, the company will now have a minimum seven independent directors and the chair will be elected by shareholders not the board.

The rules would be applied at Vale's AGM on April 30.

Vale shares closed flat on Friday at BRL97.4, near a one-year high and valuing it at BRL515 billion (US$93 billion).