Vale Says May Close Corumba Mine System in Western Brazil

Brazil's Vale is considering the closure of its 2-million tonne per year iron ore Corumba system in Western Brazil as the price of the steelmaking ingredient lingers at five-year lows, its head of iron ore said on Friday.

"There's always a doubt on Corumba which is our small system in the west of the country," Peter Poppinga told investors at a strategy day in London.

Poppinga added that stopping the system all at once was not simple and subsequently, "we would prefer to wait a bit more to see where the price is going."

He added that all of the company's mines in its south and southeastern systems in the state of Minas Gerais were making money at the current price.

The price of iron ore <.IO62-CNI=SI> has halved this year to $70.90 per tonne.

Reporting by Sarah McFarlane and Eric Onstad