Samarco resumed its activities in December 2020 at 26% of production capacity and currently operates at 30% of its capacity, using a concentrator and a pelletizing plant, which allows an average annual production of approximately 9 million tons of ore pellets and fines.

In 2023, the company produced 9.4 million tons and, in the first three years of gradual and safe resumption of its operations, production reached 25.7 million tons of iron ore pellets and fines.

According to the company’s business plan, the projection is that a second concentrator can be restarted by 2025 to reach a production rate of approximately 15 Mtpy, at 60% of production capacity. The restart of the third concentrator should take place by 2028, when the company expects to reach 100% of its production capacity, with a production scale of 26/27 Mtpy.

Samarco resumed its operations with a different approach, without the use of tailings dams. The company’s tailings disposal system includes a confined pit and a Tailings Filtration System for dry stacking. During filtration, the sandy tailings (80% of the total) is no longer disposed of as slurry in dams and/or hydraulically stacked, but it becomes a material with a high solids content, making dry stacking possible. The remaining 20% is disposed of in the Alegria Sul Pit, a structure that allows the natural containment of tailings.

According to the Restructuring Plan, the Remediation Obligation Limit covers all payments made by Samarco in relation to the Remediation Obligations, including not only environmental claims, but all claims and discussions regarding the remediation of damages arising from the collapse of the Fundão Dam, even if these claims arise from actions in jurisdictions other than Brazil.