Brazil’s Vale suspends ‘indefinitely’ 6bn potash project in Argentina
Brazil’s government managed Vale and the world’s third-largest mining company, suspended works at its 6 billion dollars potash project in Argentina indefinitely. A suspension at the Rio Colorado potash project in the Argentine province of Mendoza since last month will be maintained, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in an e-mail.
Vale Chief Executive Officer Murilo Ferreira is selling assets and cancelling projects as the company is set to post the lowest annual profit in three years.
Vale is in talks with a potential partner for the Rio Colorado project, Roger Downey, head for fertilizers and coal, said last December. In that month the company cut the 2013 budget for the project to 611 million from 1.08 billion dollars last year.
“The project isn’t cancelled,” Rolando Baldasso, Mendoza province’s minister of infrastructure and energy, said in an e- mailed response to questions. “
“There are financial issues that are triggering an operational restructuring.”
Los Andes newspaper reported earlier that the project was suspended for an indefinite period and it won’t be reopened until Vale gets a partner. Vale is currently holding talks with two multinational companies seeking to seal a partnership, the Mendoza City-based newspaper said, citing an unidentified company official.
Brazil’s only potash producer, Vale said in October it has spent 1.8 billion dollars on Rio Colorado and completed 41% of the project. The venture includes the developing of a mine in Mendoza, the renovation of 440 kilometres of railway trucks and the construction of a 350 kilometre-long railway spur to transport the potash to a terminal in the port of Bahia Blanca in the province of Buenos Aires province for its export.
With the capacity to produce 4.3 million metric tons of potash, the project would make Argentina the world’s third- largest exporter of the crop nutrient, President Cristina Fernandez announced last July after signing agreements with Vale to proceed with the project.
Vale’s stock has dropped 3.4% this year.








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Funny yesterday Toby said I was lying about this article.
They get so desperate when it is clearly bad news that can't be countered.
Not only profits that can't be gotten out, but some times the product too.
Well, how much credibility should we give to a prediction made by a person who has “never heard of Vale until I had dealings with them yesterday”?
When a ship is sinking because of multiple holes in its hull, you don't have to know the size and location of each hole to predict it will sink!
(A sinking ship analogy..... how's that for timing?)
Let me guess, you too have not heard of Vale before.
I assume it's just an effort to distract away from the point that they have lost patience with Argentina too.
retard
I am sure Hepa feels the same.
hepa, I am a yankee and your better but you should know that already.
And he's never set foot in Argentina either.
That's the pattern isn't??
Argentina this argentina that.
- Ever been to Argentina?
- umm.. no, does that matter?
Argies are this argies are that.
- Ever met one?
-umm... that's not the point.
@14
Hey you fool... is working out for the USA isn't it? Four 30 years you had politicians passing laws that made it nearly unprofitable to explore oil or gas within the USA, or build refineries.
Now that is all changed and look... so aren't YOU benefiting from the fact that the prior generation didn't use up all that resource back then?
Mendoza doesn't need mining to have an economy. It already has an economy.
Countodown to the 4th US debt default in history... by summer, me thinks.
www.vale.com/PT/aboutvale/news/Paginas/vale-nega-anuncio-da-suspensao-de-projeto-na-argentina.aspx
No I've never been to Argentina but I've certainly met a few. My mates wife is an Argentine and she's a complete idiot. Thinks the galaxy is run by a master race living at the centre. I think she watches too much Sci Fi.
You don't need to go to a country to comment on it - otherwise most posters couldn't comment on anything.
Ps: Four = 4
Well, thank you for your honesty about you making up your mind based on a mate's wife. I base my opinions on the British having read a book on Harold Shipman.
Where did I say that then?
In a decade we will be pumping more than Saudi Arabia!
It has nothing to do with the laws over the last 30 yrs we have been pumping and exploring right along the whole time. I
Like the rest of Argentina, Mendoza needs every centavo it can get its thieving hands on.
This is going to hurt the economy a lot whether you want to admit it or not is up to you. Frankly I don't care I don't have to live there thank goodness.
I think most of the electricity plants are converting or being built to use nat gas. We have something like 300yrs worth in potential reserves and are basically paying cost right now. We need to build more LNG plants and export it but everything takes time.
You're the largest producer of nuclear power yet haven't built one at home since 1974! Seems to be changing though.
On Nuclear, I think we should have more plants everywhere but who knows what will happen Obama is pretty beholden to the econazis so we may have to wait for the next Prez. I hear he is warming up to the o/g industry though because of the huge royalty and tax payments it will generate.
It reminds me of the first time I came in contact with Kelpers (i.e. British occupiers of Las Malvinas). This was in Punta Arenas, Chile in about 1975 or 1976. They were coming to Punta Arenas to get supplies and repair their boats.
They too effected an air of ignorance (which they were) and superiority (which they we not). They spoke almost no Spanish which is how, as an English speaker, I came to be involved with them.
In general Chilenos are a warm and open people but those that came in contact with these Kelpers hated them. The Chilenos often spoke very rudely about them behind their backs, and sometimes to their faces (in Spanish). Of course the Kelpers were too ignorant to understand what was happening but I felt that they must sensed something.
I used to feel embarrassed by the situation even though Chile is not my country. Sometime I would try and defend the Kelpers to the Chilenos even though their complete lack of charm made that impossible.
I see a lot of the Kelper in British respondents on this board. It doesn't surprise me. Their arrogance comes from their historical position as an imperial power and their bitterness comes from the fact that they have had to accept that they are just an ordinary European country.
Your link says:
25/01/2013
Vale nega anúncio da suspensão de projeto na Argentina
Can you translate please for that dumb yankeeboy Fred?
Thanks
Wassup? The Gringos upsetting you a little too much today?
Sounds like Polispeak to me.
I guess some RG minister/thug called them and threatened to nationalize them so they re-wrote the PR.
Vale has not announced the suspension of the project in Argentina.
That is, this article has no factual basis.
I have heard a number of things about who actually controls Mercopress but none of it is definitive. My own opinion is that it is a propaganda effort run by, or in the interests of, the UK. This article, and others like it, just re enforce my opinion.
The pity is that, in this case, Vale is forced to issue a denial to counter this misinformation.
“I used to feel embarrassed”, - You still should.
By the looks of it no one in Argentina will have heard of “Vale”, in the very near future either.
www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-23/vale-argentine-potash-project-suspended-indefinitely.html
Or Businessweek or Mining.com or or or or
Vale didn't deny it they are playing loose with the term suspension. Can't you Rgidiots figure anything out by yourselves?
paranoia runs so high in Argentina
You say...:
I have heard a number of things about who actually controls “Mercopress” but none of it is definitive. My own opinion is that it is a propaganda effort run by, or in the interests of, the UK......
I say...:
You couldn't be closer to the truth....
Saludos
El Think
Chubut, Argentina.
P.S. You have still to establish that I have ever been to Argentina let alone that I'm an Rgidiot (whatever RG is means).
You have tried this control of Mercopress fantasy in the past with no success !
@37 Hepatia
The company has extended the workers' end-of-the year break while it evaluates changes in the economics of the project., which means they have :-
stopped working the mines and as the headline states Brazil’s Vale suspends ‘indefinitely’ 6bn potash project in Argentina
As its Burns night tonight I'll leave you with this thought..
“O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!”
Most British people recognise their own limitations, but its a characteristic of Latins - all hat and no cattle
Those Kelpers must be something special if an Argie finds them arrogant!
British tourist here have a reputation as polite, well educated and good tippers...not sure the same can be said of the Argies.
But to be fair I would probably have to compare the Argies here to the Brits that go to Spain, for a more appple with apples comparison.
CaptainSilver:
We speak important languages like French and German. Italian and Spanish are not seen as so useful
Are you sure about that?
I would only agree with you on 1/4: Italian is not seen as useful. Spanish is the most popular language for Brits looking to learn a second language.
@41
The opinions of racists are not taking seriously. Thus your opinions are not taken seriously.
Anglo-saxons: no morals, all hipocrisy.
Do you read what is said of Argentina and argies here? You won't answer honestly, so don't bother.
You have never travelled have you? We don't generally need to speak other languages because in most countries people are learning English. Why do you think that is? I am not a racist I have pals of all colours.
England, the home of the industrial revolution, steam engine, electric motor, electric generator, steam turbine, tv, radio, telephone light bulb were invented, the cradle of democracy, the place where the law is above politics
Argentina, Latin colony, home od Indian genocide 78 revolutions per minute, economic basketcase despite fantastic natural resources.
All fur coat and no knickers...
As for you being all morally outraged about racism again Tobes, aren't you always the one talking about how entire continents of people should be expunged from existence because we're all vile, devil-worshipping, capitalist mass murderers? ;)
Umm no. I meant when you said Spanish is not an important language, that showed your racism. Not because of the statement itself, but because of the arrogance. I would concede that to someone in the UK, Spanish is not that useful, and German and French may help more.
But in the Americas, and other places, it may be very useful, while German and French do not. It is that lack of perspective that I find most pitiful of anglo-saxons.
In Argentina, English is not that important compared to most other places in the world... we are far away from the USA, and certainly need nothing from the UK. All our neighbors speak the same language, so no need for a lingua franca.
Not too important, English, here. That does not mean it is not an important language. See the difference? Latins can caveat, anglo-saxons are incapable of such subtleness.
Argentina for almost 100 years was one of the world's wealthiest nations, 1870 to the 1950s.
England before 1700 was a non-player in Europe, much less the world stage.
So you see, if a group of people were trully superior, they would we superior in everything, all the time, throughout history. No nation or people have ever done that, so your arrogance is duly dismissed as bunkum.
@47
Have I ever said exterminate anyone? Kill Brits or Europeans?
No.
And you know it.
I have said you need to pay for your crimes, and I've already said the amount in damages Europe inflicted on the other continents of the globe, for 500 years, plus slavery, plus accrued interest has been estimated to total 137 trillion US dollars from 2010 (obviously more now).
If Europe simply paid that debt, at least it would show sincerity. Since you refuse, and won't even officially apologize, I have the right to keep ripping you all to shreads about your past. But I've never said you need to be exterminated. I'm not British, or German, or Spanish, afterall.
As you are a descendant of Europeans are you paying? Argentina follows the Spanish tradition. The country that had it all, then lost it all, then transformed into a dictatorship, then limped along getting weaker and weaker... Does this sound familiar? That period you mention, who helped Argentina develop? I have seen your railways, traffic lights, postboxes. At least we live somewhere grown up without stupid nationistic signs plastered everywhere. It's a bit like Orwells 1984 in your country. We gave you a leg up, now you squandered it all by failing to be able to manage the countryby yourselves.
Wilberforce awakes Englands concience, thus England abandoned slavery first and fought against it in Africa and against the Spanish. The UK gives more of its GDP to poor countries than any other nation on earth.
You are deluded if you think your weak arguments and misinformed comments worry any of us in any way. We just find them pathetic.
Why you think the Falkland islanders would wish to be ruled by a nation of wimps and losers beat all of us.
so what?
why are you so interested in a country you keep saying don't like?
The U.S. market is at it's hselfalf-decade HIGH..
And they've raised their self-appointes debt ceiling as a courtesy a frillion times before. Do I wish the legislators were more financially conservative-sure but there's all kinds in America.
I have never heard an anglo-saxon speak fluently another language. Period.
Further proof that you have never been anywhere.
Argentina for almost 100 years was one of the world's wealthiest nations, 1870 to the 1950s.
It's a rare person that can point out how mismanaged their country is with such glee. I can't believe you think this is a point of pride. This is an example of a country in decline. You can't even blame WW2 for the decline.
Funnily enough I could say the same about Australia for the same period.
BUT.....
It still applies now. Australia is so much richer than Argentina it is positively obscene. I am still yet to find an economic or social indicator where Argentina ranks better than Australia.
And you gloat about this. Way to prove me right. YOU CAN'T ARGUE.
England before 1700 was a non-player in Europe, much less the world stage.
I know. What an amazing ascent. To think it was once Portugal and Spain with their empires and then along came England and the UK not only eclipsed them but went further and better. The world's largest empire, inventor of the industrial revolution and home of the world's first global language.
So you see, if a group of people were trully superior, they would we superior in everything, all the time, throughout history. No nation or people have ever done that, so your arrogance is duly dismissed as bunkum.
Huh? You do know you can't argue? This makes no sense. A country can't ever change? Funny point to make considering you admitted your country's peak is behind you by almost 60 years.
As for paying the damages for colonialism. My country is mature enough to accept our history as our own and not blame another country. I feel sorry for countries that ignore their heritage to make themselves feel better about their past.
Damn run out of room to discuss the article. If someone would be so kind....
No, we gave you a leg up. We saved you from having significant starvation events during WWII. Show some gratitude.
Oh yes, you are going to say but we bought that food from you. Well, guess what... you made massive profits from trading with Argentina way back when! Massive profits in the railroads, the beef, the wheat, and in banking (except the Great Panic of 1890 when the Argentine economic bubble burst). No leg up, just good ol business.
Unless you are willing to say Argentina sort of saved you during the war.
Up to you.
@53
What does mismanagement have to do with anything? Was Rome mismanaged? Sure. The Spanish Empire? Sure. the British Empire? sure. Iraq? sure... many places have been very wealthy and no longer are. It's called history'! Things change... you think Australia will stay rich in 100 years? I almost guarantee you it will not, it may be poorer than most of Asia in 50 years.
Not your fault, just things change, shock, shock.
Well, the Portuguese and Spanish empires are gone sure, but so is the British empire... so there is no difference between them. It's ridiculous that you are trying to prove anything with that.
And what is this angl0-saxon obsession with wealth? My what a fixation!
You people are so stupid saying Argentina should be rich always. Show me one country that has been always” rich. You know the Scandinavian countries were literal DUMPS 100-150 years ago? People could not get out of there fast enough. We know Ireland. We know Korea 70 years ago was dirt poor. Dubai same.
The USA was the wealthiest nation in the world per capita in 1950, and was HALF of the world's GDP!!!
Today it's officially under 20% of worlds GDP and right at 10th place or out of the top 10 in per capita... it will keep falling. Is that because they are a failure? Well, I would say so, but other countries rising also plays a part.
No country can be eternally wealthy.
No country can be eternally wealthy.
Yup, no problem. Keep going the way you are.
Nothing you can do about it. Not your fault.
Don't bother trying, it's too much effort.
Your neighbours will wish you to fail, anyway, and they're working hard to make sure it happens.
Your foreign trade will fall to pieces, then you can sever all ties with all foreigners.
There! Feel better?
Knew you would. :-)
benefiting from the fact that the prior generation didn't use up all that resource back then?
I'm all for Mendoza and Argentina keeping all its minerals and resources in the ground. It'll be hard for you to understand but such actions make my country richer.
Just because you don't mine it doesn't mean others aren't. There at still countries consuming these resources. So others will step in and sell it instead.
They'll take those profits after employing people and paying taxes and go invest elsewhere.
Australia (for example) will have people gainfully employed and consuming and investing in their own futures. The government will use the taxes to build infrastructure and provide wealth redistribution.
Those companies take their experience and expertise and become more efficient. They take their profits and invest in places like Chile and Colombia.
www.austrade.gov.au/Mining-ties-boosted-between-Australia-and-Colombia/default.aspx
newmatilda.com/2012/10/19/big-mining-colombian-push
And they then make more money. They contribute to the host country with taxes and development. And their profits are repatriated and pay taxes in their home countries as well as shareholders.
All the while Argentina and Mendoza sits on its wealth smugly waiting for future development. Its citizen's living standards stagnate and even absolutely decline compared to countries.
Mendoza doesn't need mining to have an economy. It already has an economy.
And it is tiny! Are your government as business unfriendly as you?
My state's GSP is nominally about 75% of your entire country's. All with 1/5 the population. Victoria has 3 times Mendoza's population but produces 16 times its output.
We do that with mining AND other industries such as wine, agriculture, manufacturing and even those bugbears for you.... tourism and education.
Limit and hobble your own economy all you want. The only people affected are yourselves.
Funny you should mention the war
Evita, Swiss & the Nazis
www.consortiumnews.com/1999/c010699a.html
I remember just after the war - Argentinian beef...
Beef and whine things that Argentinean people do so well (apart from indian genocide that is...)
Report in The Times this morning after the Olympics in Spain Britain is cool. Union Jacks everywhere, even in Cuba its the same. Everyone is learning English, people are teaching their kids English at home, its seen as essential in the modern world. Meanwhile Argentina continues whining and alienating everyone. Will this fixation with England and English penetrate Argentina and stop all the nonsense? Why not try a different approach - mutual respect and friendship? That's the way to get a piece of the South Atlantic bonanza you are presently shut out of.
www.lanacion.com.ar/1549113-exigen-a-vale-retomar-un-proyecto-minero-suspendido
Toby amd Hepa, I think you need to read some other news sources you don't keep making complete fools of yourself.
To me it looks like Mendoza is freaking out about the closure.
Peso is a 7.64/1U$
I wonder when it will hit 10?
Lower peso=higher inflation=lower peso= higher inflation
where will it end
hyperinflation probably
I can't wait it is fascinating to watch morons ruin a country
simply facinating
You have a wildly overvalued currency. May I remind you 10 years ago your dollar was 50 cents of a US dollar. Argentina's currency was 1=1.
Nominal only is useful in measuring relative purchasing power outside your own borders... that's why PPP is used, to balance out currency fluctuations. Your nominal may be high right now, but so are your internal living costs. No one in their right mind would travel on vacation to Australia right now.
And when you take than into account, the difference is not as huge as you like people to believe. I guess you australians are no different than the brazilians and chileans and uruguayans, a bunch parvenus and arrivistes.
You would be wise to learn from Argentina there, we also thought we were the shit when our GDP was half of Brazils because of our overvalued currency, and we went on weekend trips to Miami, Spain, Paris, and everywhere we went bought 2 for 1.
Getting hung up in currency fluctuations as a sign of long lasting wealth is a game for jingoist losers.
@60
Good for the cubans, and spaniards. As you might guess, not many Union Jacks or people learning English in Argentina. What for? Almost everyone speaks Spanish to us.
@56
Not our fault at all. It's called the wheels of time. There is no point in making any effort to fight history. We accept our best time (wealthwise ONLY), are past us and won't come back. Big deal, there's more to life than counting 100s.
”We accept our best time (wealthwise ONLY), are past us and won't come back. Big deal, there's more to life than counting 100's”
Glad to hear you are content to slide away into poverty.
I suppose that you will soon see that shopping malls of Mendoza will decline and finally close. The flashy new ones will never be more than a photoshop exercise for the developers.
Of course, you could look at the problems and through hard work, perhaps reverse the slide. Easier to sit on your hands. Continue.
Dare I say as ignorant as Axel and that is saying a lot!
Not everyone has the same blinkered opinion as you !
www.chubut.edu.ar/descargas/ingles/english_in_argentina.pdf
Look who speaks of ignorance... Mr. 14/1 by June 2012.
@66
Blinkered, no, just facts. English is not essential here like it maybe in Europe, Northern Latin America, or swaths of Asia, India, etc.
Your comment was:-
”As you might guess, not many (Union Jacks or) people learning English in Argentina. What for? Almost everyone speaks Spanish to us.”
This is not born out by the article posted.
Again this is your own personal biased opinion
”We accept our best time (wealthwise ONLY), are past us and won't come back. Big deal, there's more to life than counting 100's”
Glad to hear you are content to slide away into poverty.
I suppose that you will soon see that shopping malls of Mendoza will decline and finally close. The flashy new ones will never be more than a photoshop exercise for the developers.
Of course, you could look at the problems and through hard work, perhaps reverse the slide. Easier to sit on your hands. Continue.
Economists, meanwhile, say the blue rate is on track to slip to around ARS9, or even ARS10, by the end of 2013.
I guess that is because everyone is expecting 30% inflation in 2013
I bet it will be more than that.
Toby, I have looked everywhere but I can't seem to find something similar for Argentina www.aoc.gov/capitol-grounds if you have something please pass it on.
Is there a reason the graffiti can't be cleaned off Congresso or the homeless shelters removed around the fountain that's in front?
””We accept our best time (wealthwise ONLY), are past us and won't come back. Big deal, there's more to life than counting 100's”
Just putting this out there:
Do you think a change in government administration would result in different policies and taxation that would help your economy?
CFK and Dilmann = Methusela and Medusa = Romy and Michelle = Abbott and Costello = Dumb and Dumber
...and with regards the Spain and Portugal comment, either you have not been to Portugal or I didn't realise you disliked Argentina so much.
@74 Troy Tempest: Abbott and Costello were very, very good at what they did. They don't deserve to be in that list.
74 Troy Tempest: Abbott and Costello were very, very good at what they did. They don't deserve
Sorry, I stand corrected.
They were very clever at deliberately portraying stupidity.
Let's substitute CFK Economic Policy and Defeat
It's actually Kiciloff that is freaking out since there are LOTS of MFGs and other projects getting suspended all over the country.
What this is really all about is the price of iron ore. It has nothing to do with potash or Argentina.
What projects do you think they'll shut down first?
The ones in Argentina of course
You are a blockhead.
A Vale esclarece que não anunciou a suspensão do Projeto Rio Colorado, na Argentina.
You and President Kirchner disbelieve this statement. What evidence do you and President Kirchner have to form you view. None.
I have counted the number of messages that I posted to get you to abandon your limp, flaccid argument and to reduce you personal invective and wild and unsubstantiated claims (typed in upper case, no less). I count 3. Too easy. You really should try harder and have more self respect!
Why would the Arg and Mendoza gov't be threatening sanctions etc if it was still working?
You are really thick
You need to seek medical help for your stupidity.
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