Brazilian court clears BHP, Vale and Samarco of charges in 2015 dam disaster
A court in Belo Horizonte ruled that state prosecutors failed to prove that "individual actions" directly contributed to the collapse of the dam.
Brazilian miner Vale SA reported on Thursday a 36% year-on-year decline in third-quarter net profit, though it still landed above market expectations.
Vale, one of the world’s largest iron ore miners, reported a quarterly profit of $2.84 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG expected $2.55 billion.
Vale’s CEO, Eduardo Bartolomeo, said the miner continued to make significant progress on strategic and business priorities.
“In iron ore solutions, we are on track to achieve guidance, with increased production to date, improved average quality and a reduction in the gap between production and sales in the quarter,” he said in a statement.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came in at $4.18 billion, below analysts’ estimates of $4.72 billion. Revenue came in at $10.62 billion, missing analysts’ expectations of $10.98 billion.
Over the quarter, the miner said its iron ore prices had averaged $105.10 per metric ton, up from the $92.60 per ton in the year-earlier quarter.
Last week, Vale said its iron ore output had dropped nearly 4% in the quarter due to a production snag at a key mine.
Earlier on Thursday, the miner said it will pay out about $2 billion to its shareholders, in addition to launching a new share buyback program.
(By Peter Frontini and Marta Nogueira; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle and Tom Hogue)
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