São Paulo, Brazil — Vale Fertilizantes reported Jan. 6 that a Jan. 5 fire at its Cubatão Industrial Complex – Unit 02 was contained. The employees of neighboring companies are being allowed to come back to work, and residents of the nearby Mantiqueira community, who had been relocated to a nearby school, are returning to their homes. There were no casualties. Two firefighters were taken ill, but have since been reported to be in good health. Vale said the fire was on a conveyor belt that feeds ammonium nitrate to a warehouse. There was an immediate evacuation and production shutdown of the unit. Vale said the gas emissions generated during the burning of the nitrate were quickly contained, and the smoke quickly dissipated. Cubatão is a part of Vale Fertilizantes that The Mosaic Co. does not plan to buy in its recently announced acquisition of Vale assets (GM Dec. 23, 2016).
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