Vale to Increase Nickel Production with Brazilian Projects

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)-- Vale (NYSE: RIO) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is expecting to increase its nickel production in Brazil with the development of two major projects in Onca Puma and Vermelho.

Onca Puma, a $1.5 billion project in the municipal district of Ourilandia do Norte, State of Para, in the lower Amazon River Basin, will exploit a world-class nickel laterite deposit in order to produce 55,000 tons per year of nickel. The project entails the construction of two mines, Onca and Puma, a processing plant and a smelter, as well as transport infrastructure and power transmission lines. The processing plant at the Onca Puma Mine will use rotary kiln electric furnace technology. The project is expected to be complete by December 2008, and production is scheduled for January 2009. Hatch Limited (Sao Paulo, Brazil), in a joint venture with its Brazilian project partner, Progen (Sao Paulo), is providing detailed engineering, procurement, construction and management services through commissioning and start-up. Construtora Norberto Odebrecht (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is in charge of construction.

The $1.2 billion Vermelho nickel project, located in Canaa dos Carajas in the mineral province of Carajas, State of Para, has an estimated reserve of 290 million tons of nickel. The project entails the construction of a mine and a high pressure acid leach plant. The mine will have a nominal production capacity estimated at 46,000 tons per year of metallic nickel, 2,800 tons per year of cobalt and 500 tons per year of copper. Currently in the implementation phase, the project is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2012. GRD Minproc (Sao Paulo, Brazil) is providing engineering services.

Vale's global nickel production reached 247,900 metric tons in 2007 through its operations in Canada and Indonesia. The company expects to double its nickel production in the next few years with the coming on line of its new projects in Brazil, New Caledonia and Canada. Vale is a diversified mining company that owns world-class assets of iron ore, pellets, coal, nickel, copper, bauxite and alumina.

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