# Vale opens Pico Blocks Factory for mining waste products

Vale inaugurated the Pico Blocks Factory, a pilot plant that transforms iron ore tailings into civil construction products such as interlocking floors and concrete blocks. The factory is located at Mina do Pico in Itabirito, Minas Gerais, and will invest about R$25 million in R&D over two years.

- Type: New facility
- Announced: 2020-11-17
- Where: Mina do Pico, Itabirito, Minas Gerais, Brazil
- Value: $4.60M (25.0M BRL)
- Starts operating: 17 Nov 2020
- Status: completed
- Capacity: 30,000 tons of tailings per year, 3.8 million pre-molded products per year
- Products: interlocking floors, structural concrete blocks, sealing blocks, concrete slabs
- Sectors: [Construction Materials](https://endata.com/sectors/construction-materials.md), [Mining Equipment](https://endata.com/sectors/mining-equipment.md)

## Companies

- [Vale](https://endata.com/companies/14293.md)

## Sources

- [vale.com](https://vale.com/hu/w/vale-opens-factory-that-transforms-mining-waste-into-products-for-civil-construction), 2020-11-17: "In addition to making our operations safer and more sustainable, we want to encourage the development of innovative solutions that create value for neighboring communities and society."

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Data from Endata (https://endata.com/). Announcements are summarized from public sources and may be incomplete; check the linked originals.