On 20 January 2011, Mineração Usiminas (Usiminas) announced that the company’s joint venture with Sumitomo resulted in a record production year for Usiminas. They produced 6.8 million nt of iron ore in 2010, a 24% increase from 2009’s output of 5.5 million nt. Through a series of investments, Usiminas intends to increase the iron ore production capacity at its mines in the Serra Azul region to 29 million nt by 2015. The first stage, which requires a USD 328 million investment, was approved by the Usiminas Board of Directors at the end of 2010. It includes the construction of a pellet feed concentration plant and new sinter feed processing facility which will increase production capacity to 12 million nt per year by 2012. Usiminas will invest a total of USD 2.4 billion by 2015 in order to reach its production goals; the company is currently finalizing studies to build a pellet plant that will convert current iron ore output into pellets suitable for steelmaking.