Made up of the Tico-Tico and Ipê mines, the Serra Azul Unit, located in Minas’s Iron Quadrangle, has an installed production capacity of 8.7 million tons of iron ore per year.
Currently, the Serra Azul Unit processes iron ore extracted from friable itabirite. The final products are lump (granulated ore, ready to be transformed into steel), sinter feed (fine ore) and pellet feed (finer ore, used in the manufacture of pellets).
The Serra Azul Unit has a magnetic concentration plant, which has made it possible to recover16 million tons of iron ore fines, previously stocked as tailings. Today, this material supplies the magnetic concentration plant, whose installed capacity is 1.2 million tons per year.
The iron ore from the Serra Azul Unit goes to domestic consumers, such as large mining companies, steel mills and pig-iron producers located in the State of Minas Gerais, in addition to customers outside of Brazil. Today, export capacity runs at one million tons of iron ore per year.
Expansion
With planned investment of R$ 4 billion, the Serra Azul Unit's production capacity will reach 24 million tons of iron ore per year. The forecast is that the new plant at the Serra Azul Unit will be operational by 2014. The new Serra Azul Unit plantwill be the first in Brazil capable of processing compact itabirite, a type of rock which is abundant in the region, and previously considered as reject.
The construction of the new plant at the Serra Azul Unit is one of the first mining projects in the world to adopt modularization, a technology that uses modules in the assembly of the plant. These modules are manufactured outside of the site, allowing construction and assembly activities to be developed in parallel.
To move production out, the new iron ore processing plant will feature a long-distance belt conveyor (LDBC) 6.7 kilometers long, which will link the mine to the company's new rail terminal, which will be built alongside the MRS railroad. MMX is currently studying the replacement of theLDBC in the project by an ore pipeline. If the company takes up this option, which has the support of the community and environmental agencies, the pipeline will have the same length and will cover the same ground as the LDBC.
Pau de Vinho Mine
In February 2011, MMX acquired the extraction rights for 30 years for the Pau de Vinho Mine owned by Usiminas, located in an area contiguous to the Serra Azul Unit. This partnership will allow MMX to operate with greater synergy in the area, using machinery and buildings at Serra Azul.
Early studies suggest that the Pau de Vinho Mine can add over 8 million tons of iron ore per year to MMX's production. In a report released in August 2011, SRK Consulting measured resources of 810 million tons of iron ore and mineral potential of up to 75 million tons of iron ore at the location.