O Globo
Danielle Nogueira
March 13, 2011
With the aim of becoming the world’s number one mining company, Vale is moving forward with its internationalization process. The company’s new projects abroad add up to at least US$9.6 billion in investment by 2014, covering countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. Through coal and fertilizer projects, the company is attempting to diversify its activities and thereby not only reduce its dependence on iron ore, but also leave behind Australia’s BHP Billiton, the industry leader in terms of market capitalization (US$231.4 billion). The Brazilian company is currently in second place (US162.5 billion).
A large share of Vale’s foreign investment will be on the African continent, which has enormous untapped potential for the mining industry. It is there that Vale is developing the Moatize coal project in Mozambique, which will initially be capable of producing 11 million tons per year, and is due to start up in the middle of this year. US$1.658 billion has been invested in this project. At the same time, the company is building a complete set of transport infrastructure, including a railroad and a new port terminal in Nacala, also in Mozambique. This project, which is awaiting approval from the Board of Directors, has a budget of US$298 million for this year.
“Moatize is the Carajás of coal. It is the last unexplored coal province in the world, simply because it didn’t have any logistics,” said Vale’s Integrated Operations director, Eduardo Bartolomeo, comparing the Mozambican mine to the large Brazilian iron ore deposit in Carajás, Pará.
Elsewhere in Africa, the company is developing a copper mine in Zambia and implementing the biggest integrated iron ore mining project on the continent in Simandou, Guinea. The company plans to produce 15 million tons of iron ore in the first phase (as of 2012), requiring investment of US$861 million in 2011 alone.
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