Brazilian miners bet on high-grade iron metallics in race for...

Brazilian miners bet on high-grade iron metallics in race for Scope 3 carbon neutrality - Fastmarkets



“Everyone is now looking into decarbonizing, but Brazil has a head start due to our clean energy supply, even when compared with [the world’s largest iron ore exporter] Australia,” Alexandre Mello, IBRAM’s association affairs and climate change director, told Fastmarkets on October 27.

Vale is testing a new direct-reduced (DR) product called green briquette, which the company says have the potential to cut carbon emissions by up to 10% by acting as a substitute for sinter, pellet and lump.CSN Mineração (CMIN), the second-largest iron ore producer in Brazil, owned by flat steel producer Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN), is also investing to increase its average iron content and supply steelmakers worldwide with DR-based solutions for electric-arc furnaces (EAFs).

Meanwhile, Anglo American Brasil, operating the Minas-Rio complex and ranking third among the country’s biggest iron ore producers, is studying potential DRI products while already exporting high-grade material. Roughly 70% of output at Minas-Rio is 67%-iron blast-furnace (BF) pellet feed, with the remaining output 68%-iron DR pellet feed.

And J&F Mineração – owned by holding company J&F Investimentos, mostly known for being the controlling shareholder of meat producer JBS – is offering lump with grades above 65% iron content from the start. At the same time, it is developing a product called “natural pellet” with a 66% grade, with industrial tests expected in 2024.

CSN’s CMIN has announced 7 billion Reais ($1.43 billion) in capital expenditures to develop a plant that will produce premium ore with 67% iron content, according to a company spokesperson. It expects larger projects in Europe to use DRI in EAFs that will come online from2026, and some market participants are already in talks with the miner to understand availability of that product, the spokesperson said.“[Our premium] product will be an irreplaceable input in the production of green steel and will make it possible to reduce our Scope 3 emissions by approximately 30%,” the spokesperson said. “There won’t be material available for all.”"

All roads lead to one direction = High grade Ore = MGT.