Reuters reports Vale has hired bankers to put together world's first ever cobalt streaming deal worth up to $500 million at its Voisey's Bay mine in Canada.
The miner's autonomous haulage system (AHS) fleet has already moved over one billion tonnes of ore and waste material within the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The stock fell by 21%, the steepest intraday decline since September, after the miner lowered production forecasts and confirmed that a stronger South African currency would knock annual profits.
ZCCM-IH launched action in Oct 2016 to sue First Quantum over claims that the company borrowed $2.3bn from copper mining subsidiary without informing them.