Tag Archives: Vale

UQ-led geotechnical project targets open pit mine of the future roadmap

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A A$4-million ($2.8 million) cash injection from industry has marked the beginning of the next phase of research for a large-scale geotechnical project headed up by University of Queensland (UQ) experts.

Professor David Williams (right) and Dr Mehdi Serati (left) have managed the Large Open Pit Project (LOP) from UQ’s civil engineering home base, since 2017, and they recently secured the management of further funding to begin phase three of the project, which will run until 2022.

“The LOP links innovative mining geomechanics and geotechnical engineering research with best practice in open-pit mining,” Professor Williams said. “Australia is a leader in open-pit mining, driven by a forward-thinking industry.

“The LOP has provided a focus for research for the past 15 years and, since 2017, allowed us to collaborate and advance the safety and risk components of open-pit mines.

“The project also ensures that the industry can maintain its immensely valuable contribution to the Australian economy into the future, with mining generating around A$250 billion annually and employing about 15% of the Australian workforce.”

The primary focus for researchers during this three-year term will be to create a roadmap for ‘The Open Pit of the Future’.

Together with international industry partners and research colleagues, the team will bring together cutting-edge knowledge around large open-pit design, operation and closure, supporting future trends, including the interaction with underground mines, and deeper and even more technology-driven unmanned and automated operations.

Dr Serati said the team aimed to produce a new generation of pit slope design guidelines that incorporated everything from the fundamentals of slope design and rock mass characterisation, through to 3D geotechnical modelling, slope monitoring techniques, controlled blasting and open-pit closure.

“In open-pit mining, the design of the slopes is one of the major challenges at every stage of planning, through operation to closure, and requires specialised knowledge of the geology and material geotechnical parameters, which is often complex,” Dr Serati said. “Good open-pit design also requires an understanding of the practical aspects of design implementation, so we need to work collaboratively to cover all of these elements and produce industry-wide best practice guidelines.

“Australia has some of the largest open-pit mines in the world, which are reaching ever greater depths, and the LOP Guidelines are vital in ensuring coverage of all of the important design aspects.”

The LOP is recognised as the premier international research and technology transfer body representing the technical disciplines contributing to large open pits and supporting future trends, UQ says. The LOP fosters close collaboration between industry and researchers, which is essential to meeting industry’s need to continuously innovate.

“A key aim of the LOP is to ensure that the mining industry is a safe, prosperous and environmentally friendly contributor to society,” UQ said.

The industry sponsors for LOP III (third phase) include Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, BHP, Debswana, Fortescue Metals Group, McArthur River Mining, Newcrest Mining, Rio Tinto and Vale, with other companies being encouraged to join.

Vale partners with NORCAT for mining innovation challenge

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NORCAT and Vale have teamed up to launch the NORCAT Open Innovation Challenge to, they say, facilitate and enhance Vale’s capabilities to bring new, state-of-the-art technologies into its mining operations and accelerate the rate of technology adoption in the global mining industry.

As current global events disrupt regular business operations and the global mining industry continues to undergo a digital transformation, mining companies around the world are looking to become more agile and resilient by embracing digitalisation and investing in technologies related to safety, sustainability and operational efficiency.

The NORCAT Open Innovation Challenge is looking to identify technology-enabled solutions to three common problem areas identified by Vale. Specifically, the NORCAT Open Innovation Challenge is focusing on the issues of smelter acid management, underground operator alertness and excessive water and run of material in underground mines.

“As the global ‘one-stop-shop’ for all that is the future of mining technology, our goal is to facilitate and encourage innovative and disruptive thinking within the mining technology ecosystem,” Don Duval, NORCAT CEO, says. “As the mining industry continues to transform, it requires new levels of openness, innovation and collaboration. Challenge-based initiatives have proven to be effective in uncovering new ideas and different points of view, and we are excited to partner with Vale to further the acceleration, adoption and deployment of emerging technologies that are poised to transform the global mining industry.”

The NORCAT Open Innovation Challenge is open to innovative start-ups, entrepreneurs and problem solvers from across Canada. Successful applications must have the capacity and confidence to develop and deploy a proof-of-concept inside one of Vale’s operations in Sudbury, Ontario, by March 2021. As part of the process, Vale will provide technical oversight and feedback to winning entries over a four-month period to prepare for product development and testing prior to completion.

Anthony Downs, Manager of Digital and Information Technology for Vale’s Base Metal Operations, said: “At Vale, we are obsessed with safety and risk mitigation. Open innovation is a key enabler that allows us to rapidly identify and trial novel risk management solutions. When they prove effective, we move them to implementation within our operations at an accelerated pace.

“Vale is pleased to partner with NORCAT on this challenge and looks forward to reviewing the innovative solutions the challenge inspires.”

As part of its mandate, NORCAT continues to identify and engage with mining technology companies from around the world to support the development and adoption of innovative technologies poised to transform the global mining industry.

This is not the first time NORCAT and Vale have teamed up. Earlier this year, the two announced plans to develop and deploy an innovative blended learning program that, they said, would transform how the global mining industry trains and educates its workforce.

Vale leverages Contour platform for first iron ore blockchain trade

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Vale says it has completed its first sale of iron ore using blockchain technology with Nanjing Iron & Steel Group International Trade Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Nanjing Iron and Steel Co Ltd (NISCO).

The transaction, for a cargo of 176,000 t of Brazilian Blend Fines from Teluk Rubiah Maritime Terminal, in Malaysia, to China, is aligned with Vale’s strategy of becoming a more “innovative and customer-centred company” through greater integration with clients and partnering for the development of new solutions, it said.

“It is an important milestone towards the digitalisation of the sales and trade process, bringing innovation to the traditional paper-intensive trade transactions and offering a better service to the clients as well as predictability in the steel value chain,” Vale said.

The Letter of Credit was issued through the Contour blockchain platform while the shipping documents and the electronic Bill of Lading were handled via essDOCS’ CargoDocs solution – with all actions carried out through a single, interfaced platform consolidated in Contour. The transaction also had support from DBS Bank Ltd and Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad.

“The integrated transaction enabled end-to-end security and transparency with real-time visibility of the documentation to all stakeholders, drastically reducing the amount of emails and paperwork exchanged among the parties and providing enhanced user experience through access to a single solution to execute the trade,” Vale said.

Vale looks for increased operational flexibility with S11D iron ore expansion plan

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Vale is to increase the capacity of its S11D iron ore operation, in Canaã dos Carajás, Brazil, after its Board of Directors approved the implementation of the Serra Sul 120 project.

The $1.5 billion Serra Sul 120 project will see the S11D mine-plant capacity increase by 20 Mt/y to 120 Mt/y. Start-up is expected in the first half of 2024, Vale says.

The project includes the opening of new mining areas, the duplication of the long-distance conveyor, the implementation of new processing lines at the plant and the expansion of storage areas, among other measures.

“The Serra Sul 120 project will create an important buffer of productive capacity, ensuring greater operational flexibility to face eventual production or licensing restrictions in the Northern System,” Vale said.

The $385 million investment to duplicate the existing long-distance conveyor, in addition to providing flexibility, also aggregates important elements for the reduction of operational risks, adding reliability to the system, according to the company. The existing long distance conveyor is part of a major in-pit crushing and conveying system at the mine. It could see Vale’s Northern System capacity rise by 20 Mt/y to 260 Mt/y.

“The expansion of the mine-plant capacity and the development of additional logistics capacity are important steps for the iron ore volume growth, the maximisation of margin and the flight-to-quality optimisation,” the company said.

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

Vale starts dry iron ore concentration pilot with New Steel technology

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Vale has inaugurated its new dry pilot plant for processing iron ore in Minas Gerais, Brazil, as it continues to reduce its use of water in ore and waste processing.

The Brazilian technology, known as FDMS (Fines Dry Magnetic Separation), is unique and has been developed by New Steel – a company Vale acquired in late 2018.

The pilot plant, which cost $3 million, is the first step towards the construction of an industrial plant that will have a production capacity of 1.5 Mt/y. The investment in this project is near $100 million, with the commercial plant start-up scheduled for 2022, as the company announced back in February.

Vale estimates that, in 2024, 1% of all the company’s production will use this technology, whose patent is already recognised in 59 countries.

President of New Steel, Ivan Montenegro, said: “NS-03 is a semi-industrial plant to carry out tests on a pilot scale with different types of ore, allowing the definition of operational parameters for commercial-scale projects.”

Installed at Vale’s Ferrous Technology Center, in Nova Lima, the pilot plant is the second to start operating. Between 2015 and 2017, a unit operated at the Fábrica mine, also in Minas Gerais. The results allowed Vale to see the potential of the FDMS technology, it said, ultimately leading to Vale taking over New Steel.

The new pilot unit will be able to concentrate 30 t/h of ore using dry magnetic separation technology equipped with rare earth magnets.

Vale’s Executive Director of Ferrous, Marcello Spinelli, said New Steel puts the company at the “forefront” of investments in ore processing technology.

“We will continue to seek solutions that increase the safety of our operations,” he added.

With New Steel and its dry process technology, Vale estimates that, in 2024, 70% of production will come from dry or natural moisture processing, without adding water to the process and without using tailings dams. Today, the company produces 60% of iron ore using natural moisture processing.

By 2024, from the production using wet processing (30%), 16% will have filtered and dry-stacked tailings, with only 14% continuing to use the conventional method with wet concentration and tailings disposal in dams or deactivated extraction sites.

This transition will see Vale invest $1.8 billion in filtering and dry stacking in the coming years. The first units to use the technique will be Vargem Grande complex (in Nova Lima), Pico mine (in Itabirito), Cauê and Conceição mines (in Itabira), and Brucutu mine (in São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo).

New Steel’s technology can deliver a concentrate with iron content up to 68% Fe from poor ore with content up to 40% Fe, depending on its chemical and mineralogical composition, according to Vale. Currently, this concentrate is produced by flotation, which uses water. In flotation, the tailings are usually disposed of in dams, but, with the dry concentration technology developed by New Steel, the tailings will be stacked.

Vale is studying methods to use these filtered cakes as raw materials for the civil construction industry, in addition to other initiatives, such as co-products.

Vale, Kobe Steel and Mitsui & Co to combine ‘green’ iron-making solutions

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Vale says it has reached a non-binding heads of agreement with Kobe Steel and Mitsui & Co to establish a new venture to supply low CO2 iron metallics and iron-making solutions to the steel industry.

The heads of agreement establishes the preliminary terms and conditions for the creation of a new venture with the objective of delivering low CO2 metallics to the global market, providing new technological solutions to its clients, Vale said.

“An evaluation period has already begun to deepen the cooperation and to gauge market demand for several existing and new steel-making solutions prior to a final agreement for the creation of the NewVen,” it added.

Vale has previously declared 2030 targets for Scope 1 and 2 emissions in line with a commitment to the Paris Agreement.

Steel production, part of Vale’s Scope 3 emissions, while essential for people’s daily lives, generates considerable CO2 emissions. “Vale is committed to contribute with its steel-making clients in this challenge of reducing their carbon footprint,” it said.

The new venture will use existing and new low-CO2 iron making technology such as Tecnored®️ technology and the MIDREX®️ Process.

Tecnored is a 100%-owned Vale subsidiary focused on developing a low carbon pig iron process through the use of energy sources, such as biomass, syn-gas and hydrogen, that emits less CO2 than the traditional coal and coke iron-making process. Using biomass, the path to economic carbon neutrality may be achieved in the medium term, according to Vale.

MIDREX Technologies, a 100%-owned Kobe Steel subsidiary, is a world leading direct reduction ironmaking (DRI) technology. Each year, MIDREX plants produce more than 60% of the entire world’s DRI (example above) and more than 80% of the DRI produced by all shaft furnace technologies. Since it uses both natural gas and hydrogen as a reductant in the process, its CO2 emission level is much less than compared with a blast furnace.

Epiroc to supply Vale with BaaS agreement, battery-electric equipment

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Epiroc says the world’s first Batteries as a Service (BaaS) agreement has been finalised in Canada, with Vale and the mining OEM partnering on this new approach for utilising battery technology in mining operations.

Along with the BaaS agreement, Epiroc will be providing Vale with 10 battery-electric vehicles for two Canadian mine sites. These machines will include four Scooptram ST14 loaders, two Boomer M2C drill rigs, two Boltec MC bolting rigs and two Minetruck MT42 trucks. The miner will also acquire three of Epiroc’s charging cabinets and seven charging posts for equipment support, the company said.

Vale has previously said it hopes to have upward of 20 battery-powered vehicles operating within its North Atlantic operations (Creighton, Coleman, Copper Cliff, Garson and Thompson mines) by the end of 2020.

As mining companies continue to strive for sustainable productivity and zero emissions, the fast evolution and development of different options within the field of battery technology can be extremely challenging, Epiroc says.

With BaaS, Epiroc works directly with the customer to define a battery plan that suits the needs of their operation. The lifespan is guaranteed and the battery status is carefully monitored to ensure predictive maintenance with reduced downtime, according to the company. If a customer wants to increase or decrease their capacity, they can adjust their plan and the service will be tailored to meet their requirements.

As part of an ongoing sustainability commitment, Epiroc will remove old batteries from site and replace them with new batteries. These older batteries are then used for secondary applications and will be recycled at the end of the process, the company says.

The delivery of the battery equipment to both sites will occur over the course of 2020 and into the March quarter of 2021, according to Epiroc.

“A key component to the success of this offering is the flexibility it allows our customers,” Shawn Samuels, Product Manager Rocvolt, Epiroc Canada, said. “We take ownership of the battery itself and automatically replace and update the units as needed, which means the mine site can breathe easier and continue to focus on heightened production.”

Jason Smith, General Manager Epiroc Canada, said: “We value and look forward to continuing our successful partnership with Vale as we move towards a zero emissions future in mining together. We both recognise the positive impact a successful battery service implementation can have on operations, so our mutual confidence in one another is well placed.”

MEDATech speeds up battery-electric mining charge

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The potential for electric drivetrain specialist MEDATech Engineering Services to add another high-profile client to its list of mining company references is high given the developments the Collingwood-based company is currently working on.

Having helped Goldcorp (now Newmont) and several OEMs realise their vision of an all-electric mine at Borden, in Ontario, MEDATech is energising more electrification projects with its ALTDRIVE system.

The company has been developing electrification technology for heavy-duty, off-highway vehicles for about six years. Its current drive train technology, MEDATech says, is capable of being scaled for most heavy haul applications in mining and other industries.

These last six years have seen it help fellow Collingwood resident MacLean Engineering convert underground roof bolters, graders, water trucks and many other production support vehicles for Canada’s underground mining sector. MEDATech has also helped Torex Gold and its Chairman, Fred Stanford, develop the necessary equipment to take the Muckahi all-electric underground mining concept to testing phase. Similarly, it has played a role in Nouveau Monde Graphite’s all-electric open-pit mine vision as part of a Task Force Committee developing studies for the Matawinie project, in Quebec.

Aside from the Muckahi project, the ALTDRIVE system, having been engineered to replace internal combustion engines, has been the driving force behind this work, according to Jeff Taylor, Managing Director of MEDATech Engineering.

The powertrain consist of a hybrid, or completely electric means of propelling the machine with industrial batteries, and can be adapted to heavy equipment such as commercial trucks, tractors, excavators, buses, haul trucks, light rail and – most important in this context – mining vehicles.

ALTDRIVE leverages battery systems from Akasol and XALT, chargers and power electronics from Bel Power Solutions and Dana TM4’s electric motors. The balance of the power electronics, control systems and sub systems, thermo management systems, VMU (a software component critical to the power management of the battery, electric motor charging and regenerative capabilities), and integration engineering is developed by MEDATech.

Taylor says it is the battery chemistry and charging philosophy of the ALTDRIVE technology that differentiates it from others on the market.

“The battery chemistry is really quite advanced and is all based on the future of fast charging,” he told IM. “In this scenario, we don’t want the batteries to be brought down to a high depth of discharge (DOD). We instead want operators to carry out quick, opportunity charging on the go.”

Most of the machines the company has been involved in manufacturing to date have been equipped with 25-100 kW on-board chargers, yet Taylor thinks its new breed of fast-charge battery-electric solutions could eventually require up to 1 MW of power and be charged through an automated system.

Such powerful charging systems may be the future of MEDATech’s ALTDRIVE drivetrain technology, but for now it is focused on leveraging the system for the conversion of a diesel-powered Western Star 4900 XD truck (pictured).

Part of a collaborative project with a Western Star dealer in Quebec where the dealer (Tardif) has donated the truck and MEDATech has provided its materials and engineering expertise, the truck is equipped with a 100 kW capacity on-board charger, 310 kWh of battery capacity, loaded gross vehicle weight of 40,824 kg and 25% more horsepower than its diesel-powered equivalent.

Loaded, the truck can cover 85 km (0% grade) on a single charge (80% DOD). This vehicle is ideal as a pit master unit for short run material moving, road maintenance, water hauling/spraying and snow plowing activities, according to the company. The truck can be on-board charged (2.5 hours) and fast charged (1 hour) during idle periods (at 80% DOD).

The machine will be ready for demonstrations at a gravel pit around 15 km away from the company’s Collingwood headquarters in September, and it has already caught the attention of some major miners.

According to Taylor, Anglo American (Chile), Teck Resources (British Columbia) and Vale (Ontario) are scheduled to see the BEV 4900 XD unit in September at the Collingwood facility. “Each company is looking at an electric machine(s) for their operations,” he said. “They might end up with a different truck, built to their exact specifications, but they want to test this machine out to experience a battery-electric conversion.”

After the 24 t payload truck, the company has eyes on converting a 40 t payload Western Star 6900 XD diesel truck to battery-electric mode.

“This will just be a bigger conversion on a bigger truck,” Taylor explained. “We’ll have extra room on the truck for placing batteries and the extra motor that will be required. It will also be an all-wheel drive vehicle, as opposed to the real-wheel drive of the 4900 XD, which will need some extra engineering.”

While Taylor said work on converting this 40 t machine would not start until the all-electric 4900 XD had been tested, he saw plenty of opportunities for scaling up and down the ALTDRIVE technology to create more customised ‘green’ vehicles for the mining industry.

“If you look at any mine site in Canada, there are five or 10 vehicles you could replace with electric versions,” he said.

Vale’s Canada mines set for more battery-electric vehicle trials

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By the end of 2020, Vale hopes to have upward of 20 battery-powered vehicles operating within its North Atlantic operations, according to Alex Mulloy, Mining Engineer within Vale’s Base Metals Technology and Innovation division.

The plan is for the electric vehicles (EVs) to be operating on a trial basis at its Creighton, Coleman, Copper Cliff, Garson and Thompson mines by the end of the year, with the company having already made significant headway on achieving this goal.

Vale is aligned with the Paris climate-change agreement, and committed to being carbon neutral by 2050, with a 33% cut in greenhouse gas emissions planned across the company by 2030. This is part of a strategy to invest at least $2 billion to combat climate change, which includes the use of battery-electric vehicles.

Vale has already tested Rokion’s battery-powered personnel carriers/utility vehicles at Creighton, while an Epiroc ST7 battery-powered vehicle and Artisan Z40 haul truck have been trialled underground at Coleman.

Mulloy said the green vehicles are going to be evaluated with feedback from operations, as well as operating data, to help Vale understand how they perform in terms of reliability, functionality and the benefits they can offer our people and the business.

The benefits from trials so far include:

  • Health and safety improvements for our employees underground: EVs are much quieter than diesel vehicles and produce less heat and zero exhaust emissions. “From an operator comfort perspective, EVs are certainly an improvement,” Mulloy said;
  • Cost savings: EVs can reduce underground ventilation demands and the associated operating and capital expenditure; and
  • Environmental benefits: EVs contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

“EVs certainly complement the efforts of the business in terms of greenhouse gas and carbon reduction,” Mulloy said. “It’s a great technology. Not only does it enable operational benefit and improvement, it also contributes to our greater goals of reducing our emissions and the impact on the environment.”

Natalie Kari, Principal Engineer, Strategic Electric Vehicle Implementation, said: “Exhaust emissions from diesel engines are one of the larger contributors to environmental pollution. EVs are an opportunity to increase safety by improving operating conditions and creating a safe work environment. Reducing noise, vibrations, heat, greenhouse gas emissions, and diesel particulate matter, while improving air quality, contributes to creating an attractive work environment for top talent.

“With increased challenging mine conditions at depth, EVs also provide an opportunity to sustain productivity by enabling mines to produce in areas that otherwise may not be feasible without these benefits, contributing towards mining for years to come.”

These trials will help steer business investment decisions in future years, according to Mulloy.

“Over the coming months, a number of large prime mover vehicles will be delivered,” he said. “When those vehicles arrive, it will be an exciting step in the journey because most of the question marks around the performance of EVs relate to the large vehicles, so that’ll be a chance for us to really put this technology to the test.”

Kari added: “Our company’s next major steps include collaborating with internal and external industry stakeholders towards safe implementation, comprehensive trial data collection and validation of a robust model towards a final approved five-year implementation strategy. With any new technology, investment in our people will be a priority to ensure they are equipped with the tools necessary for successful operation and maintenance.

“It is thrilling to be a part of leading this effort in a time of increased innovation and environmental awareness,” she continued. “The movement from traditional diesel to electric vehicle brings a feeling of social pride in creating a healthier workplace.”

This is an edited version of an original story from Vale, which can be found here.

Vale to tackle Scope 1 and 2 emissions with plus-$2 billion investment

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Vale has topped its fellow Tier 1 miners with a plan to invest at least $2 billion in an effort to combat climate change.

The amount, the largest ever committed by the mining industry to combat climate change, according to the company, is geared towards reducing its direct and indirect absolute emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 33% by 2030.

Rio Tinto, in February, announced a plan to invest “more than $1 billion” over the next five years to support the delivery of its new climate change targets, while BHP, in July 2019, announced a five-year, $400 million Climate Investment Program to develop technologies to reduce emissions from its own operations as well as those generated from the use of its resources.

The goal complies with the Paris Agreement, which established a maximum limit to ensure the global average temperature rose by no more than 2°C by 2100, Vale said.

“With this initiative, Vale aims to transform itself into a company with zero net emissions in Scope 1 and 2 by 2050, leading the industry towards carbon-neutral mining,” the company said.

The plan was unveiled yesterday (May 12) by Vale’s CEO, Eduardo Bartolomeo, during the annual meeting with analysts from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch, carried out virtually.

It is an advance on the corporate climate agenda, which Vale set out in December last year.

Back then, Vale announced its goal to reduce its emissions and established an internal carbon pricing of $50/t of CO2, equivalent for capital projects and competitors.

Bartolomeo said: “This agenda is a result of a listening process, aligned with a real climate change-related demand from society for a robust reduction in emissions in the Scope 1 and 2. We are stepping forward to develop a New Pact with Society with more transparency and responsibility.”

Vale has established the Low Carbon Forum – a group led by the CEO and comprised of six executive directors and employees from different areas of the company – whose purpose is to guide the implementation of these Scope 1 and 2 commitments.

According to Luiz Eduardo Osorio, Vale’s Executive Director for Institutional Relations, Communication and Sustainability, 35 initiatives are under analysis using the Marginal Abatement Cost Curve – a tool that allows the ordering of projects by costs and potential for reducing emissions.

He said: “There are projects for the use of biodiesel in the area of Base Metals, energy efficiency, electrification of mines and railroads, biofuels in pelletising instead of coal, and renewable energy because one of Vale’s goals is to achieve 100% of self-production of electric power from clean sources, such as wind and solar, in its plants around the world.”

By the end of the second half of this year, some pilot projects will be in operation, it said.

The Vitória-Minas railroad will have the first 100% electric locomotive, electric vehicles will be tested in underground operation at the Creighton (photo above is of a trial of the Rokion battery-powered R200 personnel carrier at Creighton) and Coleman mines in Canada, and Vale’s pelletising plant in São Luís (Maranhão) will replace coal with biofuel, it said.

The base year used to calculate the carbon goal was 2017, when Vale’s emissions reached 14.1 Mt CO2 equivalent. The goal is to reduce it to 9.5 Mt of CO2 equivalent by 2030.

Vale will also recover and protect another 500,000 ha of native forest by 2030, on top of the more than 1 Mha it currently protects worldwide, it said.

“In addition to its ambition to neutralise its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2050, Vale aims to establish a goal for Scope 3 emissions to encourage clients and suppliers in the same direction,” it said.

Through active engagement with clients from the steel and metallurgy industries, Vale says it will work to reduce emissions in its value chain.

“The company will guide its operations based on win-win relationships, less intensive products and new technologies,” it said.