Ship Photos of the Day – Vale Ships First Iron Ore from Giant S11D Mine

M/V Berge Neblina loads one of the first iron ore cargoes at Vale’s new Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal, January 13, 2017. Photo: Vale

Brazilian mining giant Vale has shipped the first cargo of iron ore from the company’s giant new mine in the Amazon known as S11D.

The company said that three ships were loaded at Vale’s expanded Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal in São Luís on Friday. The cargo included approximately 26,500 tons of iron ore that was extracted from the S11D mine, located in Canaã dos Carajás in southeast Pará, Brazil.

With production capacity of 90 million metric tons of iron ore per year, the S11D is the largest project in Vale’s history and one of the largest mining projects in the world. The project features a truckless system which uses movable crushers and conveyor belts to extract iron ore from the mine. The iron ore is than processed and loaded onto a train for transport to the Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal where it will be shipped to markets across the globe. 

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