Brazilian iron ore miner CSN declares force majeure on trucker strike

4th june 2018

The Brazilian iron ore production unit of Companhia Siderurgica Nacional said it has declared force majeure due to a trucking strike affecting the country’s south where CSN has operations.

The CSN Mineracao unit declared force majeure, citing an impact to its production and logistics capacity in fulfilling contractual obligations, the company said in a notice dated Monday.

“In addition to the lack of inland transportation itself, the consequences of the foregoing have been and continue to be the lack of raw materials and other inputs, production reduction or even possible stoppage, among others,” CSN Mineracao said.

In the first quarter, CSN’s iron ore production fell to 6.12 million mt from 7.85 million mt in Q1 2017, due to heavy rain and limited tailings dam utilization. The company’s Q1 iron ore sales, including sales of third party ore, increased 3% year on year to 7.47 million mt from Q1 2017. CSN supplies iron ore to its Rio de Janeiro state integrated steel mill and exports various iron ore grades to customers globally.

The company plans to be less dependent on tailings dams following the startup of filtration in Q2 and Q4, and use of magnetic concentration plants in Q1 2019.

Source: PLATTS