The Vale Oman plant in Sohar, Northern Oman

Brazilian mining giant Vale has said it achieved record production of 2.419 million tonnes at its iron ore pelletising plant at the Sohar Port complex during the second quarter of this year.

Output for the corresponding period in 2014 was 2.055 million tonnes.

The announcement was made in a quarterly report of Vale’s worldwide operations.

The pelletising plant, which supplies direct reduction pellets as feedstock to a number of steel mills in the Middle East and Asian regions, saw production surge 27.7 per cent over the previous quarter’s figure of 1.895 million tonnes.

 The production spike follows on the heels of a major maintenance shutdown that took place earlier this year, the company said. 

The output increase, along with that of another Vale-operated pelletising plant in Brazil, helped boost the conglomerate’s total production of iron ore pellets to 12.23 million tonnes during the second quarter.

Rio de Janeiro-headquartered Vale SA owns a 70 per cent stake in Vale Oman Pelletising Company (VOPC), which operates a pair of pelletisation trains boasting a nominal capacity of 9 million tonnes per annum at Sohar Port.

The balance 30 per cent is held by Oman Oil Company, the wholly Omani government owned strategic and energy investment vehicle.