LatinNews Daily - 30 January 2024

*Brazilian mining company Vale has released its production figures for the fourth quarter of 2023, registering quarterly and yearly rises for almost all major products, such as iron ore and copper. In Q4, 89.40m tonnes (t) of iron ore was produced, up from the 86.24m t in the previous quarter and from the 80.85m t in Q4 2022. The production of iron ore pellets came to 9.85m t, up from 9.18m t in Q3 and 8.26 m t in Q4 2022. Copper production rose from 81,600 t in Q3 to 99,100 t the following quarter; this also marks an increase from the 66,300 t produced in Q4 the previous year. Nickel was the only product to register a year-on-year drop, from 47,400 t in the final quarter of 2022 to 44,900 t in Q4 last year. The accumulated annual production figures for every product except for nickel also saw annual increases. Nickel production came to 164,900 t in 2023 (-7.9%), while 321.15m t of iron ore was produced (+4.3%), production of pellets came to 36.46m t for the year (+13.5%), and copper saw the greatest increase, totalling 326,600 t (+29.0%).