Samarco was born as a project in 1971, from the union of the companies Marcona Corporation and S / A Mineração Trindade (Samitri).

While Marcona had experience in iron ore concentration and pelletizing, Samitri owned the mining rights in the “Alegria Complex”, in MG, rich in itabiritic ore – low in iron content and never before explored in Brazil.

By investing in technology, they would transform itabirite, treated until then as waste, into a quality product, with an iron content of around 70%. In 1973 Samarco Mineração S.A was created, a pioneer in Brazil in the mining of low-grade iron ore and with its own integrated logistics operation, from the mine to the port. Operations began in 1977.

Ours was the first Company in Brazil to use a pipeline for ore transport, at the end of the 70’s, a unique logistic solution, offering both greater safety and lower socioenvironmental impact. Operations started on May 11th 1977, when the first batch of iron ore slurry was pumped to the coast.

The first product shipment from the Ubu Port was of pellet feed (iron ore fines) in August 1977, a milestone in our history.

Almost 400 km long, for over three decades our first pipeline was considered the longest in the world for iron ore transport. It crosses 24 municipalities, from the mine in Mariana (MG) to the pellet plant and seaport in Anchieta (ES).

In 1977, Marcona Corporation, one of Samarco’s partners, became controlled by Utah International Inc., forming Utah-Marcona Corporation. The companies were purchased by General Eletric and, in 1984, by Australian mining company Broken Hill Proprietary Mining Company (BHP), which became the holder of 49% of Samarco.

In 1997, we opened a new pelletizing plant in Ubu and expanded the capacity of the Germano plant. In 2000, Vale bought Samitri. After an agreement with BHP, each company now holds 50% of Samarco. With the Third Pelletizing Project, completed in 2008, we inaugurated a concentration plant in Germano, a pipeline and a third pelletizing plant in Ubu. In 2014, we made the last expansion, with the installation of the fourth pelletizing plant in Ubu, a third concentrator in Germano and the third ore pipeline.

On November 5, 2015, the Fundão dam broke. Immediately after the breach and over the next five years during which our operations were shut down, we continued to honor our commitment to remediation and compensation and implemented significant improvements in the company based on the lessons learned.

We improved the Integrated Safety System, risk management and prevention culture, in addition to investing in new technologies for tailings disposal.

In October 2016, the environmental licenses for the Germano Complex (MG) were suspended. In order for them to become effective again, and for Samarco to be able to resume its operations, we were requested by the Minas Gerais State Secretariat for Environment and Sustainable Development (Semad) to carry out the corrective licensing process.

It was a complex process, which followed all the rites provided for in the legislation and had the participation of several actors, such as civil society, public authorities and regulatory bodies. Five public hearings were held, involving around 5,500 participants in total.

The Corrective Operating License (LOC) was voted and approved in a regular session by the Chamber of Mining Activities (CMI) of the State Council for Environmental Policy (Copam) on October 25, 2019. With the LOC, Samarco was in possession of all the necessary environmental licenses to restart its activities.

Innovation is part of our history. Our company was created to transform something previously considered worthless into a high quality raw material. The resumption of operations will mark our history and demonstrate our new commitment to society: to do mining differently, with new technologies and greater safety, focused on contributing to the territories where we operate and to the country.