Vale’s Q3 manganese ore output down 8%; ferro-alloys up 13%

Vale’s output of manganese ore decreased by 7.7% year-on-year to 629,000 tonnes in the third quarter of 2012, according to the company’s quarterly report.

Paragraph entered by Atlantic migration, in order for SteelFirst articles to display correctly on Metal Bulletin.

It increased by 7.6% when compared with the second quarter of 2012.

“The production of Azul was 7.2% higher than [in the second quarter of 2012], as a result of greater equipment availability,” Vale said. “Urucum output also had a better performance, rising by 6.0% over [the quarter], reflecting enhancement of operational controls.”

Ferro-alloys
Vale’s third-quarter 2012 ferro-alloy production totalled 116,000 tonnes, an increase of 12.9% over the corresponding period in 2011.

Production included 58,500 tonnes of ferro-silicon manganese alloys (ferro-silicon Mn), 52,800 tonnes of high-carbon manganese alloys (FeMnHc) and 4,400 tonnes of medium-carbon manganese alloys (FeMnMc).

Vale’s results included production at its manganese ferro-alloy operations in Europe – Vale Manganèse France, at Dunkerque in northern France, and Vale Manganese Norway, at Mo I Rana in Norway – which are being sold to Glencore.

“The transaction to sell the European ferro-alloys operations – Dunkerque and Mo I Rana – is still pending the fulfilment of certain precedent conditions,” the Brazilian mining company said.

Dunkerque produced 40,000 tonnes of ferro alloys in the period, an increase of 45.6% over the third quarter of 2011.

Mo I Rana reported a slight production increase of 0.8% to 25,000 tonnes in the same comparison, due to a stoppage for maintenance, according to Vale.