Vale – Page 62 – Republic of Mining

Vale Tax Appeal Suspended as Justice Requests Revision – by Mario Sergio Lima & Juan Pablo Spinetto (Bloomberg News – November 26, 2013)

November 27, 2013

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA (VALE5), the world’s biggest iron-ore miner, had its appeal of a 30.5 billion-real ($13.3 billion) government tax claim suspended by Brazil’s Superior Court as the deadline approaches for an out-of-court settlement.

Justice Ari Pargendler, one of five presiding judges, asked to revise the case in a session today in Brasilia. The request followed Justice Napoleao Maia’s proposed approval, Justice Sergio Kukina’s rejection and Justice Benedito Goncalves abstinence. Vale shares fell the most since July.

The case, in which the Rio de Janeiro-based miner is arguing that earnings from foreign operations can’t be taxed in Brazil if they were paid abroad, probably will resume next week, Roberto Duque Estrada, a lawyer for the company, said from the tribunal. That would be after a Nov. 29 deadline for companies to accept a government proposal to scrap fines, interest and legal charges if they agree to pay in one tranche or reduce taxes and interest if they settle in installments.

“The market already priced in this dispute and just wants it to be over,” Leonardo Brito, an analyst at hedge fund Teorica Investimentos, said by telephone from Rio before today’s suspension. “This and the new set of mining rules that Brazil is establishing are pending like swords over the company’s head.”

Thompson’s future looks up as Vale studies mine potential – CBC News Manitoba (November 25, 2013)

November 25, 2013

http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/

The northern Manitoba city of Thompson could be home to a new mining mega-development from Vale, which is exploring minerals deep underground.

News of a potential big development is being cautiously welcomed in Thompson, which was devastated by news in 2010 that Vale — the city’s largest employer — would shut down its nickel smelter and refinery there by 2015.

Vale is currently testing ore samples in a project area it calls 1-D, about 3,800 to 4,200 feet underground in the company’s T-3 mine shaft. Preliminary testing in 1-D shows a deposit rich in nickel and copper deposits and also containing some cobalt and precious metals.

Vale says it has been mining in 1-D for years, but officials believe now is the time to dig deeper in an largely untapped section of the deposit extending as much as 6,800 feet underground in some places.

According to the company, geologists have been pulling up core samples containing extremely high-grade nickel. Based on their tests, the geologists believe there are at least 10 million tonnes of nickel present.

Eramet chief warns of crisis in world nickel market – by Agence France-Presse (Global Post – November 22, 2013)

November 22, 2013

http://www.globalpost.com/

The chief executive of French mining group Eramet has blamed oversupply in the world nickel market for steep losses at a subsidiary as China ramps up its own production, with little end in sight.

Patrick Buffet said the global overcapacity was causing Societe Le Nickel (SLN), the group’s nickel subsidiary in New Caledonia, to rack up monthly losses of 2.5 billion French Pacific francs ($27 million).

“The crisis in the nickel (market) is very, very intense and nobody expected it to reach such a level,” Buffet told reporters in Noumea on Thursday after a board meeting of SLN, the largest private employer on New Caledonia’s main island of Grande Terre.

The French Pacific territory is home to a quarter of the world’s reserves of nickel, a key ingredient in the manufacture of stainless steel, rechargeable batteries and coins.

Buffet’s warning came after parent group Eramet last month posted a 5.0-percent drop in third-quarter sales to 754 million euros ($1 billion), mainly because of slumping nickel prices.

10 safety charges laid in fatal mine accident – by Kevin Rollason (Winnipeg Free Press – November 18, 2013)

November 18, 2013

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Vale Canada took corrective action

VALE Canada Ltd. has been charged with 10 offences under the province’s Workplace Safety and Health Act in a mining accident that killed a Thompson miner in 2011. The charges, laid last month, include allegations that Vale did not provide a safe workplace, did not have safe work procedures and had unsafe equipment.

Murray Nychyporuk, president of United Steelworkers Local 6166, said Friday it’s the first time the mine has been charged in connection with the death of a worker.

“It’s a strong message from the (province) to industry throughout Manitoba, not just Vale, that operations and companies need to provide safe working conditions,” Nychyporuk said.

“Corrective actions did take place following the incident, but we had to lose a friend, a brother, a father and a son, all for corrective measures to be put in place.”

Vale Sells $1.8 Billion Stake in Norway’s Norsk Hydro – by Juan Pablo Spinetto & Firat Kayakiran (Bloomberg News – November 12, 2013)

November 13, 2013

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA (VALE5), the world’s biggest iron ore exporter, sold its stake in aluminum-maker Norsk Hydro ASA (NHY) for $1.8 billion, about half the holding’s value when the Brazilian company acquired it in 2011.

Vale sold 407.1 million shares in Oslo-based Hydro for 25 kroner each, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said today in a statement. If an over-allotment option of 40.7 million shares is exercised in full, Vale will have disposed of its entire 22 percent stake for 11.2 billion kroner ($1.82 billion).

The miner is selling assets, putting projects on hold and focusing on its more profitable iron-ore business in a bid to recover profit margins after commodity prices fell. In September, it sold stakes in a cargo unit for about 2.7 billion reais ($1.2 billion) to Japan’s Mitsui & Co. and a Brazilian government fund after $1.47 billion of asset sales last year, including a coal mine in Colombia and 10 large vessels.

At 25 kroner a share, the deal prices the stake slightly above its value on Vale’s books, said Alan Glezer, an equity analyst at Banco Bradesco SA.

UPDATE 1-Vale eyes Sudbury deal with Glencore to cut costs (Reuters U.S. – November 7, 2013)

November 8, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

Nov 7 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Vale confirmed on Thursday it is in talks with Glencore Xstrata over potential cooperation between the mining groups’ nickel operations in Canada’s Sudbury basin, in an effort to cut costs as prices languish.

Vale said on Thursday it was not planning “a corporate joint venture” in Sudbury, but was looking at other options to join forces in mining, milling and smelting to save cash. Nickel prices have fallen by around a fifth since January and are languishing around four-year lows, weighed down by oversupply.

“We are looking at the synergies now and plan to start negotiating next year,” Vale’s chief executive Murilo Ferreira told analysts in a quarterly earnings call, adding an eventual deal would not involve a full merger.

Reuters reported last month that Glencore and Vale had revived talks over long-debated cooperation in Sudbury, with the companies considering a number of options for their mining and processing operations in the area. Sources familiar with the situation said then that talks were at an early stage.

UPDATE 3-Vale Q3 profit doubles on higher iron ore sales, prices – by Jeb Blount and Sabrina Lorenzi (Reuters U.K. – November 6, 2013)

November 8, 2013

http://uk.reuters.com/

Nov 6 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Vale SA , the world’s second-largest mining company, reported on Wednesday that its third-quarter net income more than doubled from a year earlier, beating analysts’ expectations as iron ore prices and sales volumes rose.

Iron ore prices averaged about a fifth higher in the third quarter of this year than in the same quarter of 2012, according to Thomson Reuters. Net sales, or total sales minus sales taxes, rose 11 percent from a year earlier to $12.7 billion, beating the average analyst estimate of $12.5 billion. The volume of iron ore sales rose 11 percent to 73.4 million tonnes.

“We expected strong volumes, given the robust Brazilian iron ore export figures for July-September, but shipments still exceeded our expectations,” mining analysts Garrett S. Nelson, Mark A. Levin and Nathan P. Martin of BB&T capital markets in Richmond, Virginia said in a report to investors.

“Vale’s results were largely a reflection of iron ore prices that have remained ‘higher for longer’ in the face of widespread oversupply concerns,” they added.

UPDATE 3-Vale Q3 profit doubles on higher iron ore sales, prices – by Jeb Blount and Sabrina Lorenzi (Reuters India – November 7, 2013)

November 7, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

Net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 soared 114 percent to $3.50 billion from $1.64 billion in the same period a year earlier, the company said. The result was 6 percent higher than the $3.3 billion average profit estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Reuters.

Vale Delivering More Profits on Reduced Costs: Corporate Brazil – by Juan Pablo Spinetto (Business Week – November 04, 2013)

November 6, 2013

http://www.businessweek.com/

Vale SA (VALE5) is poised to deliver its first quarterly profit increase in more than two years after costs declined and iron-ore prices beat analysts’ forecasts.

The world’s largest iron-ore producer on Nov. 6 will post third-quarter net income of $2.8 billion, data (VALE:US) compiled by Bloomberg show. That would be 70 percent more than a year earlier and the first increase since the second quarter of 2011. Vale’s 96 percent estimated increase in year-on-year earnings per share is the most among 14 global peers, according to Bloomberg Industries.

Vale, a supplier of iron-ore for steelmakers from ArcelorMittal to China Steel Corp., cut $1.65 billion of costs in the first half and is benefiting from rising demand from steel mills in Asia. Iron-ore prices averaged $132.5 a ton in the third quarter, 18 percent more than last year and above the $121 a ton forecast expected by analysts when 2013 started.

“There are better realized prices and an improved performance in terms of costs,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Marcelo Aguiar said by telephone from Sao Paulo. “We expect an increase in the production of the company’s three main businesses: iron-ore, nickel and copper.”

Vale’s Earnings Surge on Output – by Francezka Nangoy (Jakarta Globe – November 1, 2013)

November 1, 2013

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/

Vale Indonesia, the country’s biggest nickel miner, posted a 64 percent increase in profit in the first nine months of this year on the back of rising production and improving operations.

In a statement released on Thursday, the company said that its net income jumped to $47.28 million in the January-September period from $28.94 million in the corresponding period last year. Revenue rose to $721.07 million from $693.69 million.

Vale said in the statement that its success in improving its cost competitiveness helped its financial performance “even in these challenging market conditions.”

The company, controlled by Brazilian iron ore giant Vale, is currently shifting to fueling its dryers with coal rather than the more expensive high-sulphur fuel oil. The conversion began in the middle of the third quarter. Vale consumed 608,058 barrels of HSFO at an average cost of $99.65 per barrel throughout the quarter.

That compares with 679,306 barrels of consumption in the second quarter at $100.76 average cost per barrel.

Vale, Glencore Xstrata talks raise speculation – (CBC News Sudbury – October 16, 2013)

October 17, 2013

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

Mining giants Vale and Glencore Xstrata are in early talks to combine their mining efforts in Sudbury, according to a report that came out late last week. Both companies have declined to comment, and the news has some worried about what this could mean for Sudbury.

Whatever ends up happening, it’s probably not going to be a merger says a professor of business strategy at Laurentian. Jean Charles Cachon said the companies are too big and too international to merge with each other.

“They have separate systems. A merger of the two firms is very unlikely due to anti-trust regulations in North America and Europe,” he said — but added there are other more plausible outcomes. One is the creation of a third company that will exist just to handle Sudbury mines.

The other is a formal agreement in which the companies will pool some resources, but will remain autonomous. A former executive with Falconbridge said whatever happens, this kind of deal will probably mean some workers are made redundant — particularly as nickel prices around the world are in a slump, and Chinese demand lags.

Sudbury [mining Vale Glencore] merger likely: Analysts – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – October 15, 2013)

October 15, 2013

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Glencore Xstrata and Vale could and likely will one day merge their Sudbury operations. If and when that happens, it will be a marriage of convenience, not a “Rock Hudson- Doris Day romance,” says a nickel analyst.

It would be complicated to join the companies’ operations, but it may be necessary to compete against record-high production of nickel pig iron in China, says Terry Orstlan. He wasn’t surprised last week when Reuters broke the news Vale and Glencore Xstrata were in talks to explore combining their Sudbury operations.

Orstlan has been advising that for years. “Talks, that is exactly what they are, talks,” said Ortslan of TSO & Associates in Montreal. “Let’s have coffee and talk. Let’s have tea and talk. Let’s go out and talk,” he said. It would have made sense 30 years ago for the nickel giants to join forces, said Ortslan.

When Vale was owned by Inco and Glencore Xstrata by Falconbridge, their vastly differ-e nt cultures and powerful unions made a merger unthinkable.

Australia’s iron ore miners shrug off glut fears – by James Regan (Mineweb.com – October 15, 2013)

October 15, 2013

http://www.mineweb.com/

Rio Tinto upped annualised output of the steel-making raw material by 20% in October, while BHP Billiton and Fortescue Mining are in the midst of robust expansion work.

SYDNEY (REUTERS) – Australia’s “big three” iron ore miners are set to unveil a boost in third-quarter production and will mine even more in the fourth quarter, ignoring forecasts of a looming supply glut in favour of capturing greater economies of scale.

Rio Tinto this month upped annualised output of the steel-making raw material by 20 percent to 290 million tonnes, while BHP Billiton and Fortescue Mining are in the midst of robust expansion work.

All three already mine ore at costs well below selling prices — thanks to a combination of rich grades and high volumes — and see any dip in prices as simply weeding out less competitive rivals.

Rio Tinto, which is set to post a 3 percent rise in third-quarter output against the previous quarter to 53 million tonnes on Tuesday, is expected to announce a further mine expansion to 360 million tonnes a year by a Dec. 3 meeting with investors.

Glencore, Vale discuss merger of nickel operations in Ontario – by Eric Reguly and Marta Lillo (Globe and Mail – October 12, 2013)

October 15, 2013

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Glencore Xstrata PLC and Vale SA have convened “exploratory” talks aimed at combining their respective nickel operations in Sudbury, Ont., in a move aimed at cutting costs, sources close to Glencore said.

Declining nickel prices have forced the companies to consider the move, the source said. Prices for nickel traded on the London Metal Exchange have fallen by more than a quarter from this year’s high of nearly $19,000 (U.S.) a tonne in February to less than $14,000 a tonne now.

Vale has controlled its share of nickel operations in the Sudbury Basin, several hundred kilometres north of Toronto, since the Brazilian company bought Inco Ltd. for $20.3-billion in 2006. Xstrata, which was bought by Glencore earlier this year, paid $18.2-billion for Falconbridge Ltd. the same year, in order to bolster nickel holdings as the metal was hitting record highs.

Vale’s nickel operations generated $983-million out of a total $11.3-billion in operating revenue in the three months ended June 30, according to the company’s most recent earnings report. The nickel revenue fell from $1.08-billion in the last quarter of 2012.

CEMI, SNOLAB team up to interpret mining data – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Sudbury Northern Life – October 11, 2013)

October 11, 2013

http://www.northernlife.ca/

A facility which will collect data from underground sensors will help mines improve safety and efficiency, according to an executive at the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI).

With the help of a $750,000 investment from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, CEMI is setting up the Mining Observatory Data Control Centre (MODCC) in the SNOLAB surface building at Vale’s Creighton Mine.

Damien Duff, vice-president of geoscience and geotechnical research and development at CEMI, explains that most mine equipment – everything from load haul dump machines to ventilation systems – already contains sophisticated sensors.

There’s also sensors in the rock itself collecting data about seismicity. MODCC will harness this information so that mines can be operated or designed differently to maximize safety and efficiency, he said.

“So if we get that data collected, integrated and then analyzed through some kind of sophisticated data analysis and then a sharing process, imagine the value we can derive from it,” Duff said.