The Brazilian miner, a pioneer in blending different ores at Chinese ports for key Chinese mills, is taking ‘customer service’ to a new level by physically processing ore in China to satisfy changing local mill requirements. But with other miners such as Australian’s Rio Tinto also beginning to offer blended ores to their customers – and offering other standard products priced in Yuan – the race for more precise marketing in China has started.
GF88 is a new brand of iron ore feed for pelletizing, ground from Vale’s Carajás fines, that is specially designed and produced for Chinese steelmakers in response to the environmental concerns of China’s steel industry, as Mysteel Global reported.
In its statement, Ningbo Zhoushan Port said that under the mining service agreement it had signed with Vale, it will provide a full range of services including site construction, iron ore grinding, loading and unloading, storage, operation and maintenance for Vale’s project at its Shulanghu iron ore terminal. The port noted the production process for GF88 at the Shulanghu terminal will not require industrial water or fuel, thus no waste water or tailings will be generated.
Early in November, Eduardo de Mello Franco, Vale’s Marketing Manager, had told delegates at Mysteel’s conference Xiamen in Fujian province, that the miner aims to provide this iron ore product during Q1 2020. Just a few weeks ago on December 4 at a roadshow Vale held in London for capital market participants, he returned to the GF88 theme and the new product’s place in Vale’s future in China.
“(GF88) was an initiative that we started in order to understand China,” he told attendees. “(The Chinese mills) are more worried now about dust and they are investing in pelletizing to avoid the sintering process. (But) in order to make the pellets, they need pellet feed, so we are grinding Carajás fines to feed this market. It is about 30 million tonnes and we can use what we call free Carajás to apply in a new possibility,” de Mello Franco explained, adding that this year Vale expected to provide about 7 million tonnes of the new product.
GF88 is a new brand of iron ore feed for pelletizing, ground from Vale’s Carajás fines, that is specially designed and produced for Chinese steelmakers in response to the environmental concerns of China’s steel industry, as Mysteel Global reported.
In its statement, Ningbo Zhoushan Port said that under the mining service agreement it had signed with Vale, it will provide a full range of services including site construction, iron ore grinding, loading and unloading, storage, operation and maintenance for Vale’s project at its Shulanghu iron ore terminal. The port noted the production process for GF88 at the Shulanghu terminal will not require industrial water or fuel, thus no waste water or tailings will be generated.
Early in November, Eduardo de Mello Franco, Vale’s Marketing Manager, had told delegates at Mysteel’s conference Xiamen in Fujian province, that the miner aims to provide this iron ore product during Q1 2020. Just a few weeks ago on December 4 at a roadshow Vale held in London for capital market participants, he returned to the GF88 theme and the new product’s place in Vale’s future in China.
“(GF88) was an initiative that we started in order to understand China,” he told attendees. “(The Chinese mills) are more worried now about dust and they are investing in pelletizing to avoid the sintering process. (But) in order to make the pellets, they need pellet feed, so we are grinding Carajás fines to feed this market. It is about 30 million tonnes and we can use what we call free Carajás to apply in a new possibility,” de Mello Franco explained, adding that this year Vale expected to provide about 7 million tonnes of the new product.
