Vale informs about the favorable decision of the State Environmental Policy Council of Minas Gerais' Semad for the approval of the operating license for the Torto dam at the Brucutu complex in Barão de Cocais, and São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo. The Torto dam is a single-step structure without raising, which has a Declaration of Stability Condition since June 2022. 

The dam will receive part of the tailings from the Brucutu plant. The complex has a tailings filtering plant, which processes most of the tailings from the site and allows the dry stacking of the material, while also producing sand as a co-product, thus reducing the reliance on tailings dams. 

The gradual start-up of operations at the Torto dam will allow for substantial improvements in the average quality of Vale's product portfolio and an increase in the production of agglomerates (such as iron ore pellets and briquettes) by replacing high-silica products with high-quality products such as pellet feed. 

The improved product mix will garner higher price premiums on our product, contributing positively to our results. As previously reported, Vale expects to produce 36 to 40 million tons of iron ore agglomerates in 2023 and 50 to 55 million tons in 2026.