Paraopeba (Southern System) iron ore mine

Paraopeba is a mining complex owned and operated by Vale with its northern boundary located approximately 5 kilometres southwest of the city of Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The operation produces a mix of fines and concentrate products primarily for the seaborne export market but also to Vale’s Fábrica pellet plant and domestic customers. On 25 January 2019, Vale confirmed the rupture of an upstream tailings dam located at its Córrego do Feijão mine, part of the Paraopeba complex. Since then, multiple mines at the complex were forced to scale down or close capacity due to new safety protocols in Brazil. As a result, Paraopeba ran at approximately 20% below its nominal output rate in 2019 and 2020. With restarts and also thanks to higher third-party purchases, the complex output in 2023 was the third best since 2014.