{"slug": "vale-launches-ai-model-plant-in-itabira", "title": "Vale Launches AI Model Plant in Itabira", "summary": "Vale inaugurated its first AI-powered Model Plant at the Conceição 2 unit in Itabira, Minas Gerais, on June 10, with an annual capacity of 11.2 million tonnes. The plant achieved a 25% productivity gain and 40% increase in pellet feed output following a R$200 million investment.", "body_md": "Industry context: Real-time, closed-loop AI applied to industrial process control changes MLOps requirements for practitioners by shifting focus to high-frequency telemetry, model latency, and integration with control systems. According to Vale, on June 10 the company inaugurated its first AI-powered \"Model Plant\" at the Conceição 2 unit in Itabira, Minas Gerais, with an annual capacity of **11.2 million tonnes** per year (Per Vale). Per Vale, the modernisation automated roughly **7,300 instruments**, added more than **100 monitoring cameras**, and uses data intelligence to control and optimise over **400 process variables**. Vale quotes Carlos Medeiros, its Vice President of Operations: \"The model plant is more than a project: it represents a new way of operating,\" (direct quote in Vale release). Environment & Energy Leader and other industry outlets report the plant achieved a **25%** productivity gain, a **40%** increase in direct reduction pellet feed output, **26%** lower iron lost to tailings, and **92%** water reuse. Mining Magazine reports the modernisation followed about **R$200 million** (roughly USD 40 million) of investment.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/vale-launches-ai-model-plant-in-itabira", "canonical_source": "https://letsdatascience.com/news/vale-launches-ai-model-plant-in-itabira-00867ba3", "published_at": "2026-06-28 03:03:07+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-28 04:07:41.937550+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-products", "machine-learning"], "entities": ["Vale", "Itabira", "Minas Gerais", "Conceição 2", "Carlos Medeiros"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/vale-launches-ai-model-plant-in-itabira", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/vale-launches-ai-model-plant-in-itabira.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/vale-launches-ai-model-plant-in-itabira.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/vale-launches-ai-model-plant-in-itabira.jsonld"}}