Brazilian iron ore production to more than double by 2030
According to the 2030 Mining Plan, a document being drawn up by the Ministry for Mining and Energy, iron ore production in Brazil is expected to more than double over the next 20 years.
The study, which is in its review stage and which is expected to be published in the second half of August, points to iron ore production of 1 billion tonnes as compared to current production of between 380 and 400 million tonnes.
Mr Fernando Ffreitas Lins director of the secretariat for geology, mining and mineral transformation of the Ministry for Mining and Energy said that the increase in production in the country was due to demand from Chinese companies. The Plan outlines production of 585 million tonnes of iron ore in 2015 and 785 million tonnes in 2022.
During a conference at the Congress of the Brazilian Association of Metallurgy, Materials and mining, Mr Freitas Lins said that projections were based on average world growth of 3.8% and of 5.1% in Brazil over the next few years. Currently, a significant amount of the ore produced by Brazilian mining company Vale is exported to the Chinese market.
Source: steelguru.com
Brazil's mining giant Vale rejects Potash Corp bid speculation
VALE has scotch speculation that it is interested in Potash Corp by denying that it has made any approach to buy any fertiliser company.
"Vale SA informs that rumors about a bid to acquire a fertilizers company or about negotiations with the purpose of making a bid to acquire such company are totally unfounded," the Brazilian mining giant said in a brief statement.
Potash formally rejected last night BHP Billiton's hostile bid made last week for $US130 a share, or about $US38.6 billion ($43bn), and said it has a number of other potential suitors. Among those, there has been speculation that Vale was one of those taking a closer look at the Canadian company.
A person familiar with Vale's board of directors said it hadn't been informed of any approach to Potash. The person said it seems "unrealistic" that Vale would make an offer for the Canadian potash producer, given that Vale is already investing heavily in its own fertiliser projects.
"It's impossible that the Vale board would have no knowledge of the preparation of a bid of this size, about $US40 billion," the person said.
Potash chief executive Bill Doyle said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last night that interest from other companies in Potash came "within hours" of the company going public with its rejection of BHP's unsolicited offer and that it has been an active week of reaching out to prospective companies and fielding calls of interest.
Potash has initiated contact with "a number of third parties who have expressed an interest in considering alternative transactions," Mr Doyle said.
Vale is expanding its position in potash as part of a bid to become one of the world's biggest fertiliser producers by 2017.
Nevertheless, it's concentrating on developing its own projects, rather than making any more acquisitions, the person familiar with the board's activities said. Any bid for Potash would be a "complex movement, and Vale's not going to get into this at the moment," the person said.
Nomura Securities' Gavin Wood said he considered the media speculation on China's Sinochem and Vale eyeing Potash unreliable.
"I'm not sure why Vale would be interested. There's no particular synergy for Vale (with a Potash buy)," Mr Wood said. "It looks like Potash Corp is looking for a white knight."
He added that BHP "would probably like to see this speculation dissipate before they come back with a new offer". BHP Billiton may be feeling pressure from shareholders to make a new acquisition as there are few attractive stand-alone assets now available, he said.
Vale has spent heavily in recent years to build its fertiliser business. Earlier this year, Vale bought the Brazilian fertiliser assets of Bunge for $US3.8bn, while in January 2009 it bought potash deposits in Argentina and Saskatchewan from Rio Tinto for $US857 million.
Vale is investing in developing existing potash and phosphate properties in Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Mozambique and Canada that could make it the world's biggest fertiliser company as soon as 2015, even without buying Potash, according to SLW Corretora analyst Pedro Galdi.
In potash alone, Vale said earlier this month that it aims to produce 10.7 million tonnes a year from 2017, which would make it the world's third-biggest producer. Potash Corp would still be the largest, producing about 18.9 million tonnes a year, Vale said, while Mosaic would be second, with output of 15.1 million tonnes a year.
Vale chief executive Roger Agnelli said during the inauguration of the company's Bayovar phosphate rock mine in Peru this month that the project will now move straight from its initial capacity of 3.9 million tonnes a year into second- and third-phase expansions, to reach 7.9 million tonnes by 2015. The project has the world's lowest phosphate production costs, according to the Brazilian company.
Mr Agnelli said on August 6 that Vale hopes to announce plans to launch a new company, Vale Fertilisers, to bring together the Brazilian assets it has acquired from Bunge and Fosfertil. The company would be listed separately on Sao Paulo's Bovespa stock exchange, he said.
Source: theaustralian.com.au
