Pará investment boom: Alumina, iron projects big winners

The major projects benefiting from mining sector investment in Brazil's Pará state are Vale's Carajás Serra Sul S11D and Votorantim Metais'(VM) Alumina Rondon.

That's according to Pará state's minerals industry association, Simineral.

The association's president, José Fernando Gomes Júnior, told BNamericas this week the local minerals sector could receive around US$47bn in investment over the next four years.

He said: "Mining companies will invest US$34.0bn in Pará until 2018. Another US$13.0bn will be invested in infrastructure, mineral processing and other businesses such as biodiesel production."

He added that Vale's project would generate more than 3,000 direct jobs and produce 90Mt/y of iron ore, roughly equivalent to the total production of Vale's five open pit mines on the northern range of Carajás.

"With the planned production, together with other developments at the site, Vale's S11D will lift the mineral province's importance to the same level as that of Minas Gerais' Iron Quadrangle. We see Vale producing a total of 230Mt/y of iron ore in Pará by 2018," he said.

Meanwhile, the Rondon do Pará municipality is home to VM's Alumina Rondon bauxite-alumina project, which holds an integrated mine and alumina refinery.

"The project has excellent quality mineral resource potential in excess of 1Bt. VM earmarked almost 6bn reais (US$2.70bn) for the initial production of 3Mt/y of alumina. With the expansion, it will become the second largest alumina refinery in the world."

Simineral expects that overall investment throughout the mineral supply chain will generate 99,000 jobs in the region.