From the Newsroom*
São Paulo – Mining company Companhia Vale do Rio Doce announced today (15) that it reached record levels of production in 2007. According to a company press statement, production totalled 296 million tonnes of iron ore, 17.6 million tonnes of iron pellets, 248,000 tonnes of refined nickel, 284,000 tonnes of copper, 9.1 million tonnes of bauxite, 4.3 million tonnes of alumina, 551,000 tonnes of aluminium, 1.3 million tonnes of caolin and 2,500 tonnes of cobalt.
According to Vale, this performance is the result of investment in 20 projects in existing exploration areas and in new projects that have been under development since the beginning of this decade as well as acquisitions and productivity gains. According to the company, between 2003 and 2007, productivity has grown on average 11.6% a year.
Production of iron ore, according to the company, grew 12% last year, pellets, 23.9%, nickel, already counting the production of the canadian Inco, acquired by Vale, rose 5.6%, copper, calculating the results obtained in Brazil and Canada, grew 6.6%, cobalt, in Canada, rose 27.6%, caolin, 0.1%, bauxite, 28.4%, alumina, 8%, aluminium, 0.1% and iron alloys, 1.4%.
There has been a reduction, however, in the production of manganese ore, platinum, palladium, gold, silver and potassium. The company also announced the production of 2.2 million tonnes of charcoal in mines it runs in Australia.
*Translated by Mark Ament
