Vale to invest more than USD 6 billion on port and rail expansion
2011-07-26 10:22:33 [Print]
Iron ore miner Vale announced plans to invest more than USD 6 billion in expanding its port, railway and potash production capacity to keep up with booming demand for raw materials in Brazil such as fertilizer, sugar and grains.
Mr Mario Barbosa CEO of Vale’s fertilizer division said that the company expects to invest roughly USD 4 billion in an eventual expansion of its aging potash mine in northeast Brazil.
The world’s largest iron ore miner hopes to seal a deal with Brazil’s state run oil company Petrobras, which holds the rights concession for the potash deposit in the northeastern state of Sergipe.
Mr Barbosa said an agreement could be worked out to extend its contract to produce potash from the concession area by September.
The expansion plan would more than triple output from the mine from the current 700,000 tonnes per year to 2.4 million tonnes. Brazil, a major world agricultural power, has to import about 90% of its annual potash needs.
Mr Barbosa said that “We believe that by September we should have a solution to the (mine) subject - to lease or not, term, etc. We are in talks with Petrobras.”
Mr Mario Barbosa CEO of Vale’s fertilizer division said that the company expects to invest roughly USD 4 billion in an eventual expansion of its aging potash mine in northeast Brazil.
The world’s largest iron ore miner hopes to seal a deal with Brazil’s state run oil company Petrobras, which holds the rights concession for the potash deposit in the northeastern state of Sergipe.
Mr Barbosa said an agreement could be worked out to extend its contract to produce potash from the concession area by September.
The expansion plan would more than triple output from the mine from the current 700,000 tonnes per year to 2.4 million tonnes. Brazil, a major world agricultural power, has to import about 90% of its annual potash needs.
Mr Barbosa said that “We believe that by September we should have a solution to the (mine) subject - to lease or not, term, etc. We are in talks with Petrobras.”
