Zambian Mining News The Premium Source of Information on The Zambian Mining Industry
Related Articles
Vale Mining Limited, Brazil’s diversified multinational miner’s total nickel output stood at 61,700 tons in the June quarter this year, compared to 65,200 tons a year earlier, the company has said.
In a statement, the company states that from January to June 2014, the miner produced a total of 129,200 tons of nickel, compared to 130,300 tones reported in the corresponding months of 2013.
Canadian operations in the second quarter fell 23.5 percent year-on-year, to 30,800 tons of nickel, mainly on Sudbury and Voisey’s Bay lower results.
Sudbury production stood at 9,100 tons in the period, 49.2 percent lower than in the second quarter of 2013. Following a fatal accident in its smelting complex on April 6, the miner shut down the operation to carry out an investigation and review.
The metals and Mining Corporation and one of the largest logistics operators in Brazil. In addition to being the third-largest mining company in the world, is also the largest producer of iron ore, pellets, and second largest of nickel.
Vale also produces manganese, ferroalloys, copper, bauxite, potash, kaolin, alumina and aluminum. In the electric energy sector, the company participates in consortia and currently operates nine hydroelectric plants.
Currently the company is listed on the stock exchanges of São Paulo, New York, Paris, Hong Kong and Madrid. Its ownership is documented in US SEC Form 20-A, and includes 3 “golden shares” that belong to the Brazilian government, and a significant (if not majority share) held by the national pension funds.
Its foreign activities are based in the Cayman Islands, a noted offshore tax haven.
History
Founded as Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (widely known as CVRD prior to 2007) (in English, Freshwater River Valley Company) was founded in Itabira, Minas Gerais, as a public company by the Brazilian Federal Government on June 1, 1942.
One year later the Vitória a Minas railroad was inaugurated. CVRD, just seven years after its foundation, was already responsible for 80% of Brazilian iron ore exports.
In 1966, the company inaugurated in Espirito Santo the Port of Tubarão, which was to become the most important port for CVRD and is still used to export iron ore mined from the Iron Quadrangle in Minas Gerais.
The Carajás Mine, on which Vale still has over 1.5 billion tons of iron ore in reserves started to have Vale as a majority stakeholder in 1970.
In 1974, Vale became the world’s biggest exporter of iron ore, a title which it still holds today.
Then, in 1982, Vale began to diversify itself after it started to produce aluminum in Rio de Janeiro throughout its history, CVRD’s activities, once restricted to the Southeast, were expanded to the Northeast, Central-West, and North of Brazil, diversifying its mineral product portfolio and consolidating logistics services.
Vale in 1985 started to explore the Carajás Mine in the state of Pará just after the Carajás railroad was opened and in 1986 Ponta Madeira port terminal, which is still used to export iron ore mined at the Carajás Mines, was inaugurated in the state of Maranhão ]This railway is 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge.
Vale branched into copper mining in 2001 when it bought for $48.5 million the Sossego Mine located in the Carajás complex. The Sossego Mine, inaugurated in 2004, was the first Brazilian copper mine. The company expects to extract around 650 thousand tons of copper a year from that mine by 2010.
