@gasman767 Brazil (with CCCC, a Chinese company) and...

@gasman767 Brazil (with CCCC, a Chinese company) and particularly Vale, are trying hard to ramp up production of IO in the Northern System. It is planned that a new railway line will be built, connecting with a juncture of the Carajas line at Maraba (in Para state) then heading directly to Belem, the capital of Para.The port of Barcarena is just before Belem on the line. CCCC are also expanding Barcarena.

CCCC is investing US$1.6 Billion in the construction of the new railway connection between the Carajas mines and the port of Barcarena. For Vale, there are obvious advantages with having a second large port connected to the mines, particularly when it is in the same state as the mines (think royalties, less reliance on one governor, etc).

https://dialogochino.net/en/infrastructure/33830-new-para-railway-divides-the-state/

CCCC is also investing, with some Brazilian counterparts, US$500 million in building a new port at Sao Luis, the Port of Sao Luis, within the next 3 years. Before the pandemic happened, construction was picking up. From the Port of Sao Luis ,IO transports will sail through the Panama canal on route to China. Carlos Brandao, the vice governor of Maranhao, is very keen for this port to go ahead- and this might also explain why port operations at Ponta da Madeira have not stopped during the lockdown of Sao Luis.

https://america.cgtn.com/2019/10/07/chinese-funded-port-expansion-in-brazil-to-benefit-both-countries

Why the incredible rush to build more ports? It's partially the soy beans that are grown once the jungle is logged and down, and partly that Vale has plans to greatly expand the capacity of its Northern System and in particular, the high grade ore producing Carajas group of mines, deep in the Amazon jungle in Para.

Remember, in 2019, pre Brumadinho, with the help of all of this investment, Vale was trying to lift its IO production from 384Mt in 2018, to a target of 400Mt in 2019. That target proved illusive for the company, with total IO production slipping back to 302 Mt in 2019. Now, in 2020, they are only talking 310-340 Mt- due to setbacks linked to both Brumadinho and the pandemic.

Carajas is the El Dorado for Vale. It holds 7.34 Gt (billion tonnes) of proven and probable 65.9% Fe iron ore reserves. The problem is that the mines lie deep in the Amazon jungle, 892 ks from the coast, along a single track line that only goes to one port (so far). The Ponta da Madeira, in Sao Luis, Maranhao. And when it rains along that track, it really rains- after all, it's the Amazon rainforest.

And now this, the epidemic, the lockdowns in Belem and Sao Luis, the logistical nightmares. Very frustrating for an expansion focused mining company like Vale, backed by some big money investment cos, like CCCC.

And for Jair Bolsonaro?- well, he just wants it all to go ahead and for the virus to simply disappear.


Proven and Probable IO reserves beneath the Amazon jungle at Carajas- the largest iron ore mine in the world.



http://www.portergeo.com.au/database/mineinfo.asp?mineid=mn331

The new link, backed by CCCC, between Maraba and the Port of Barcarena, near Belem, allowing Vale to export from a port in the same jurisdiction as the mines. The rail line links to the Carajas line at Maraba.