Court verdict suspends Vale’s Brazilian port operations

Published: Jan 25, 2016 17:32 (GMT+8)

Save

A Brazilian federal court has ordered Vale to suspend operations at its Tubarao and Praia Mole port.

By Carolina Curiel (ScrapMonster Author)

January 25, 2016 01:21:30 AM

SAO PAULO (Scrap Monster): A Brazilian federal court has ordered Vale to suspend operations at its Tubarao and Praia Mole port. This is feared to impact the company’s iron ore exports and coking coal imports substantially. The court order is on the back of long pending environmental issues. The shipments from these ports are likely to affect in the coming days, which may in turn hit Vale’s profitability.

Meantime, the official statement released by Vale noted that the company was taken by surprise by the court order. It further stated that the company had been investing heavily on resolving the environmental issues. The company will proceed with seeking appropriate legal action to ensure that the port operations are restored at the earliest, it added.

Incidentally, Tubarao port is involved in shipment of iron ore. The port had handled nearly one-third of the total iron ore exports by the company during the initial three quarters of 2015. The iron exports through the port had totaled 82.5 million tonnes during this period. The Praia Mole port mainly handles inward coal shipments.

Vale has been facing severe issues at Tubarão's pier No. 2, over emission of dust particles over surrounding residential areas. However, the timing of the court order during rainy season points to the fact that the court decision is not solely based on environmental issues.

The authorities are expected to inspect the pier and issue further recommendations. It may take a few days for the inspections to take place. Sources indicate that Vale may be temporarily allowed to continue its operations. The port run by Vale, also handles inward shipments of coking coal to other Brazilian steel makers including ArcelorMittal. Thus, suspension of port operations is likely to impact the country’s steel output.

Vale iron ore

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

For any inquiries or for more information, please contact: lemonzhao@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please contact:service.en@smm.cn

Related News

Sep 25, 2026 16:02 (GMT+8)

Tanzania’s Imwelo selects processing route after gold recovery rises to 84.5%

[SMM Gold Flash] Lake Victoria Gold reported new metallurgical testwork for weathered ore at Area C of its fully permitted Imwelo Gold Project in Tanzania. Attrition scrubbing followed by desliming increased 24-hour gold extraction from 49.99% to 84.54% in agitated-leach testing. Bottle-roll recovery reached 88.15% after pretreatment, while gravity-recoverable gold also increased. The work was conducted by Nesch Mintech Tanzania in Mwanza. The company has identified attrition scrubbing and desliming as the preferred pretreatment route for further optimisation of the clay-rich near-surface material. Lake Victoria Gold says the results complement earlier work on deeper material, where recoveries of approximately 96–97% were reported. Importantly, the reported recoveries relate to tested pretreated fractions and do not yet represent overall whole-ore plant recovery; further mass-balance and optimisation work is planned.

Sep 25, 2026 16:02 (GMT+8)

Sep 25, 2026 15:58 (GMT+8)

Aurum drilling delivers 155 g/t gold hit at Côte d’Ivoire’s Boundiali

[SMM Gold Flash] Aurum Resources reported new assay results from 22 diamond holes totalling 6,172.8 metres at the BST1 deposit at its Boundiali Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire. The results include 2.63 metres at 76.74 g/t gold from 195.2 metres, including 1.3 metres at 155 g/t, together with 24 metres at 6.31 g/t from 108 metres, including 7 metres at 19.25 g/t. Several intersections extend beyond the existing BST1 resource envelope. The results will feed into Aurum’s planned Boundiali Mineral Resource update targeted for early Q4 2026. The company says mineralisation remains open along strike and at depth, while drilling continues across the project. The results are therefore an exploration and resource-growth development rather than additional production. Boundiali currently has a 3.22-million-ounce JORC Mineral Resource, while Aurum is advancing a definitive feasibility study.

Sep 25, 2026 15:58 (GMT+8)

Sep 25, 2026 15:52 (GMT+8)

Platinum Shows Stronger Inflation and Real-Rate Linkages Than Gold, Study Finds

[SMM Gold & PGM Flash] A new study published in the Journal of Commodity Markets finds that platinum has exhibited broader and more persistent co-movement with inflation and real interest rates than gold. Researchers Arusha Cooray and İbrahim Özmen examined monthly data from July 1999 through December 2024 across the US, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands, using turning-point analysis, wavelet coherence and time-varying Granger-causality methods. The study found gold’s macroeconomic relationships were comparatively weaker and more fragmented, while platinum and silver showed broader synchronization, particularly in the US and Germany. The researchers attribute platinum’s stronger macroeconomic sensitivity in part to its substantial industrial exposure, meaning its price reflects not only monetary conditions but also manufacturing activity, investment and supply constraints. The findings do not establish platinum as a universally superior inflation hedge: the relationships varied across countries, periods and monetary-policy regimes. Instead, the study highlights a fundamental difference between the metals, with gold’s broader monetary and defensive role producing a different response to inflation and real-rate conditions.

Sep 25, 2026 15:52 (GMT+8)