Vale suspends Guaiba port iron ore loadings

Brazilian mining firm Vale has temporarily suspended operations at its Guaiba Island Terminal (TIG) after receiving a notice from the Mangaratiba city government in Rio de Janeiro yesterday.

Vale said it has all the required licences to operate the terminal and "will take all appropriate measures to ensure the re-establishment of its activities at TIG".

The disruption helped boost buying interest in Chinese iron ore portside markets today. PB fines traded at 610-615 yuan/wet metric tonne (wmt) at Shandong ports, up from trades at Yn605-608/wmt yesterday. The deal levels today equate to a seaborne equivalent $83.70-84.40/dry metric tonne cfr basis.

The most active May iron ore futures contract closed up by 1.9pc at Yn613/t today.

Vale has been forced to shut down its Feijao, Vargem Grande and Brucutu mines following a 25 January mining accident. The closures are expected to reduce its output by 50mn t/yr, with direct reduced pellet and high-silica southern system fines the most affected.

Vale's 65pc Fe iron ore Carajas fines from its northern system are unaffected and well supplied in the market, but its 63pc Fe Brazilian blended fines BRBF that is a mix of northern and southern system fines been less liquid in spot trade.

Overall spot trade of Vale iron ore fines on online trading platforms Globalore and Corex has slowed since the accident from 24 trades in January to nine in February and six so far in March. The February dip could be partly from the week-long lunar new year holiday that halted spot trade.

This is the second time since the dam accident that the Guaiba port has halted operations. It was briefly shut down for environmental violations but reopened on 1 February after Vale presented relevant documents to government authorities.