Brazilian mining giant Vale says its S11D iron mine is on track for a January 2017 start.
The update comes as Brazilian regulators issued an operating license to the mine last week. The $14.3bn project, Vale's largest ever, will be able to process 90 million metric tonnes per year of iron ore across three production lines.
The project includes expanding the Ponta da Madeira marine terminal in Sao Luis in the northern Brazilian state of Maranhao.
The new berth for Pier IV was commissioned in November. Vale said it has loaded five vessels with some 1.3 million tonnes of ore up through November.
Once opened, the S11D mine is expected to lift Vale's production by some 11% annually through the next two years.
Vale expects to see ore production out of its S11D mine to increase northern Brazilian production by to 175 million tonnes in 2017 from 153 million tonnes this year.
Stifel & Co analyst Benjamin Nolan said in a report the volumes coming out of the S11D could account for as much as 7% of global seaborne iron ore cargoes.
