The company has been allowed to resume operations at a mine in northern Brazil, another step towards regaining the title of the world's largest iron ore producer. The Rio de Janeiro based company said in a statement on Friday that environmental authorities have granted vale the licenses needed to restart and expand the Serra Leste mine in Parra state, which have been suspended since January 2019;

With strong Chinese demand pushing iron ore prices to a six-year high, Vale is working to recover the output losses caused by the tailing dam disaster early last year, with Rio Tinto replacing vale as the world's largest producer of steel raw materials. In addition, Vale will spend US $1.5 billion to increase the production capacity of its valuable s11d mine;

At Serra Leste, Vale expects production to reach 5 million metric tons next year and restore full capacity in 2022. The plant upgrade will enable it to produce 10 million tons per year from the first half of 2023. Across the company, Vale hopes to produce 310 million tons this year before it can recover to 400 million tons