MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil’s Vale wants to become world leader in nickel production

The Onca Puma operation will have an annual production of 220.000 tons of ferronickel

Brazil’s Vale, the world’s leading exporter of iron ore is moving strongly into other minerals with the opening of its first nickel operation in Onca Puma to the southeast of Pará state which is considered one of the largest ferronickel production plants in the world.

The project has an annual production capacity of 220,000 tons of ferronickel, containing 53,000 tons of nickel, a highly valued product in the steel industry. Total investment in Onca Puma is approximately 2.84 billion US dollars.

During the project’s implementation phase, 8,000 jobs were created, and an additional 1,500 have been generated for the operational phase.

“Onça Puma is a milestone, not only because it is Vale’s first nickel production plant in Brazil, but also as it provides an example of the building of sustainable relations with communities in the municipalities in the area covered by the project,” said director of South Atlantic Base Metal Operations, Ricardo Carvalho.

Vale is the world’s second biggest nickel producer, with operations in Canada, Indonesia and New Caledonia, as well as nickel refineries in the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan and China.

The first shipment, of 1,078 tons of ferronickel containing 385 tons of nickel, was made on May 11 at the Port of Itaqui in São Luís, Maranhão. The product was transported in 52 containers by the Carajás Railroad (EFC), with final destination Asia and Europe.

The Onça Puma project was acquired by Vale in November 2005, with the aim of using deposits of lateritic nickel, a type of ore found close to the ground surface in hot and humid regions. The nickel production plant will use ore from two areas in the Onça Mountain, which is close to the plant, and the Puma Mountain, around 16 km away.

The start-up of this plant in Pará further strengthens Vale’s leadership position as Brazil’s biggest net exporter.

Nickel is a metal that is resistant to oxidation and corrosion, and is used to make alloys with many different industrial applications. Most of it is consumed by the steel industry (63%) to produce stainless steel. Around 95% of Onça Puma’s output will be shipped abroad, to China, Japan, Germany, Finland, Italy and the United States.