Vale's board now has 11 members following the departure of Vera Marie Inkster on Monday.

On Monday, the miner reported the resignation of Vera Marie Inkster.

Workers at the Port Talbot and Llanwern sites in Wales, represented by the Unite union, are locked in a dispute with India-owned Tata Steel over its decision to close the blast furnaces and cut up to 2,800 jobs.

The most-traded September iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) DCIOcv1 ended daytime trade 2.5% higher.

The offer unveiled earlier this month was less than the government's target, but Vale has expressed hope that a "consensus" would be achieved by the end of month.

The claimants allege the companies asked the Brazilian Mining Association to make the claim at the Supreme Court.

The company's application for extraction rights represents one of the first projects to go through the Norwegian government’s “fast-track” process.