Vale ‘Not in Hurry’ in Over Canada Glencore Negotiations – by Liezel Hill and Juan Pablo Spinetto (Bloomberg News – February 22, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA (VALE5), the world’s second-biggest nickel producer, said it’s not in a rush to reach an agreement with Glencore Xstrata Plc to combine operations in Canada’s Sudbury basin.

“We are studying and we are talking but we are not in a hurry,” Peter Poppinga, Vale’s head for base metals, said yesterday in an interview.

Vale and Glencore, the world’s third-largest refined nickel producer, last year initiated talks on jointly operating mines, mills and smelters in the Sudbury area, about 400kilometers (250 miles) north of Toronto, Poppinga said in November. Vale Chief Executive Officer Murilo Ferreira told reporters on Dec. 18 his Rio de Janeiro-based company expected to make a decision on a possible combination in the first quarter.

Poppinga said yesterday he didn’t expect an agreement “early this year,” and declined to comment further on the talks. Glencore declined to comment on the state of talks with Vale in an e-mail statement.

Poppinga spoke after the opening ceremony for Vale’s $759 million Totten nickel and copper project in Sudbury, calling it the first new mine in the region in more than 40 years.

Vale advanced 0.1 percent to 30.61 reais at the close in Sao Paulo yesterday. Glencore, based in Baar, Switzerland, fell 0.4 percent to 339.05 pence in London. Nickel for delivery in three months was unchanged at $14,365 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange.

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