Activities and Operating Units

Located in the state of Pará, this is Vale’s first ferro-nickel operation in Brazil and one of the largest in the world. The operation is composed of a mine and a processing plant.

Situated in the province of Ontario, this operation produces refined nickel and byproducts, and is formed of a mine, plant, smelter and refinery facilities. The nickel ore bodies in Sudbury also contain copper, cobalt, platinum group metals, gold and silver.

Nickel oxide produced in Sudbury is shipped to our refineries in Wales, Taiwan, China and South Korea, where it is transformed into refined nickel.

The Thompson operations in the province of Manitoba produce refined nickel and byproducts. The mines are mainly underground and are integrated with a plant, smelter and refinery. The ore bodies in Thompson also contain copper and cobalt. By 2015, we will have eliminated our smelting and refining operations from the site, in order to meet our environmental commitments in the region.

This operation in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador produces nickel concentrate and byproducts. It includes an open-pit mine and deposits with the potential for underground operations. The nickel concentrate produced is taken to Sudbury and Thompson to be smelted and refined.

We have a 98.3% stake in our subsidiary Dalian, located in the province of Liaoning. We operate a plant that makes refined nickel from nickel oxide produced at our operations in Canada and Japan.

Vale has a 25% stake in the Korea Nickel Corporation refinery in the Ulsan region. It produces refined nickel for the local stainless steel industry using inputs from our operations in Japan and Canada.

Located in Sorowako on the island of Sulawesi, this operation is composed of open-pit mines and a nickel processing plant. Through our subsidiary PT International Nickel Indonesia Tbk (PTI), in which we have a 59.2% interest, we mine laterite/saprolite nickel and produce nickel matte, an intermediate product mainly shipped to our refinery in Japan. PTI sells 80% of its output to Vale and 20% to Sumitomo Metal Mining. The electricity consumed by the operation’s electric furnace is supplied at low cost by three hydroelectric power plants in Larona, Balambano and Karebbe.

Located in the province of Mie, this refinery produces intermediate and refined nickel from nickel matte supplied by our Indonesian operation.

This mining and processing operation, now in the final commissioning stage, will produce nickel oxide and cobalt carbonate.

We produce refined nickel through our subsidiary the Taiwan Nickel Refining Corporation, in which we have a 49.9% stake. Using nickel oxide from Japan and Canada, the company makes products for the local stainless steel industry.