In 2021, Vale began marketing the sand produced at the Brucutu mine, a material with quality certified by specialized laboratories. That year, 225,000 tons of sand were destined for various applications, such as concrete, mortar, precast, artifacts, cement and road paving. Each ton of sand produced represents one less ton of waste being disposed of in piles or dams.

In 2022, Vale expanded its sand operations, allocating 530,000 tons from mines such as Brucutu and Viga for internal applications and sale, resulting in several commercial sand contracts.

In 2022, progress was also made in relation to circular mining in base metal operations, such as the use of 360t of nickel from ore tailings, reprocessing of 5kt of copper taken from Thompson precipitates and recycling of 2kt of nickel from slag.