Sierra Leone woos miners to clean energy with $11 billion plan
Most mining firms rely on their own diesel supplies to extract iron ore, diamonds, rutile and bauxite in the resource-rich country.
Bloomberg reports Vale SA, the world’s largest iron-ore miner, cut its target for 2015 output by 10%. The Rio de Janeiro-based company expects to produce 469 million metric tons a year of the steelmaking ingredient by that time, compared with an Oct. 28 forecast of 522 million tons, it said today in an e-mailed statement. No more details were given.
Chief Executive Officer Murilo Ferreira, who replaced Roger Agnelli this year after the Brazilian government criticized Vale’s strategy, is cutting targets amid concern raw materials demand in China will slow as the country boosts interest rates to combat quickening inflation. The benchmark Standard & Poor’s GSCI commodity index is heading for a second monthly drop.
Total year-end investments may be about $20 billion, less than the $24 billion included in the company’s budget, Chief Financial Officer Guilherme Cavalcanti said May 6 on a conference call with analysts. The company, which is delaying the start of four projects, faces equipment, workforce and licensing “constraints,” he said. Chief Executive Ferreira has said that the current $24 billion budget remains.
