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On record

This profile is no longer actively maintained, with the information now possibly out of date

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Created before Nov 2016
Last update: 2020-01-20 00:00:00

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Vale head offices in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Wikimapia (CC-BY-SA)
Sector Coal Mining, Mining
Headquarters
Ownership
listed on Bolsa de Madrid, Brazil Stock Exchange & NYSE

Vale's share holder structure can be accessed here.

Subsidiaries
Biopalma – Brazil
Vale Inco – Canada
Vale Mozambique – Mozambique
VBG—Vale BSGR Limited – Guinea
Website http://www.vale.com

About Vale

Vale, incorporated in June 1942, is a Brazilian global producer of iron ore and iron ore pellets, key raw materials for steelmaking, and producer of nickel, which is used to produce stainless steel and metal alloys employed in the production of several products. Vale is the world's largest producer of iron ore and nickel. The company also produces copper, metallurgical and thermal coal, potash, phosphates and other fertilizer nutrients, manganese ore, ferroalloys, platinum group metals, gold, silver and cobalt. The company's segments include Ferrous minerals, Coal, Base Metals and Others. Vale has operations in 30 countries.

Latest developments

Brazil court suspends operations at two more Vale dams

2019-03-18 00:00:00

Why this profile?

Vale’s longstanding reputation for corporate malfeasance was tragically re-confirmed on 25 January 2019 when a tailings dam at the Córrego do Feijão iron ore mine suffered a catastrophic and deadly failure. 

Impacts

Social and human rights impacts

Vale’s longstanding reputation as a bad corporate actor was tragically re-confirmed on 25 January 2019, when a tailings dam at the Córrego do Feijão iron ore mine suffered a catastrophic failure. The dam collapsed, releasing a wave of toxic mud that inundated houses in a rural area near the city of Brumadinho (Minas Gerais, Brazil.) Images and videos of the disaster shocked the world. Grief quickly turned to anger as reports emerged that the alarm system, designed to alert townspeople in case of danger, had not gone off. Vale had previously been warned that the dam’s risk of collapse was twice that allowed by internal guidelines. At least 231 people died as a result of the collapse and another 40 continue to be declared “missing” as of April 18, 2019.

The Brumadinho disaster was particularly appalling in light of a similar catastrophe at a mine, co-owned by Vale, just three years earlier in Mariana (Minas Gerais, Brazil.) An iron ore tailings dam collapsed, destroying the village of Bento Rodrigues in the ensuing flood. 19 people died and hundreds were displaced. Around 60 million cubic meters of toxic waste flowed into the Doce River, affecting millions living near and depending on the river basin, including fisherman and indigenous groups. Eventually, the torrent of sludge reached the Atlantic Ocean, where communities were forced to close their beaches as a result of the contamination. Reports similarly told of warnings received – and ignored – by the company prior to the collapse.

These two shocking tragedies have cemented Vale’s atrocious record. During the past few years, a litany of serious problems have emerged at its sites, to the point where groups have formed a transnational coalition, The International Movement of People Affected by Vale. Below are some of the practices that earned Vale the Public Eye Award from various civil society groups in 2012 – an award given annually to the company that shows the greatest "contempt for the environment and human rights" in the world:

  • Vale displaced at least 200 families to develop the S11D iron ore mine, located in Pará, Brazil. In 1996, state police massacred 19 protestors against the company in Eldorado de Carajás. The protestors were part of an ongoing dispute between the company and the Landless Workers’ Movement over the eviction of landless farmers. Vale paid for buses to transport the police who carried out the massacre.The railway used to transport the iron ore has been expanded, worsening the impacts on communities, which include threats to forests used by Indigenous people for hunting, respiratory problems, noise pollution, cracked houses and the lack of safety on crossings. In 2016, members of the Awá tribe blockaded the train line to demand the company attend to their concerns;
  • Vale was a significant shareholder in and driver of the Belo Monte Dam project, located on the Xingu River in the Amazon. The hydroelectric megadam has faced fierce resistance from social movements and indigenous peoples for over 20 years, becoming a global symbol of environmental injustice for the damage wrought by its construction and operation;
  • Vale is facing several legal complaints about community rights violations related to its Moatize Coal Project in Mozambique. Between 2009 and early 2010, Vale's operations in the area displaced more than 1,360 families who now suffer from widespread food and water insecurity. The construction of the Moatize coalmine cost nearly 800 brickmakers (oleiros) their livelihoods. In April 2013, protestors, unhappy with the company's compensation, blockaded access to the mine. Vale summoned local authorities who, according to local witnesses, dispersed the crowd by shooting protestors with rubber bullets;
  • Vale's charcoal producing unit in Açailândia, Brazil, has been linked to life-threatening respiratory illnesses. The unit's 70 charcoal ovens produce a significant amount of smoke that endangers worker and public health in the region.

The Xicrin indigenous people have been strongly impacted by the Onça Puma mine. In September 2017, a court ordered Vale to stop all activities at the mine immediately, until it had fulfilled all the legal requirements regarding compensation to the affected indigenous communities. In June 2019 Vale was found to still be operating the mine, despite the ruling. The court doubled the fine that had previously been imposed, to USD 52,000 a day that the company would continue operating.

Environmental and climate impacts

The human devastation caused by Vale’s polluting practices are compounded by the company’s terrible environmental track record on other fronts:

  • The S11D mine was constructed inside the Carajás National Forest and puts the canga (a type of savannah) ecosystem at risk. Steel companies located around Carajás also use massive amounts of wood fuel, requiring heavy logging and planting of non-native eucalyptus. These plantations are known as "green deserts" due to their extremely low biodiversity;
  • Vale has been ordered to repair environmental damage it caused with its bauxite pipeline which damaged the livelihoods of 788 families;
  • Federal prosecutors in Rio De Janeiro (Brazil) suspended Vale’s dredging operations in 2018 after 200 grey-eared dolphins died.
  • The Onça Puma mine in Pará was implemented without complying with the environmental legislations, according to the Federal Public Prosecutor's office. It has contaminated the Cateté river with heavy metals and strongly impacted the life of the Xicrin indigenous people (see human rights).

Governance

Applicable norms and standards

Carbon Disclosure Project
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
International Council on Mining and Metals
United Nations Global Compact
Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights

Updates

Brazil court suspends operations at two more Vale dams

2019-03-18 00:00:00

A Brazilian court has ordered Vale SA, the world’s largest iron ore miner, to suspend operations at two more dams, demanding that it prove the structures are stable. Vale has faced growing pressure to prove that its remaining dams are safe. The fatal disaster in the town of Brumadinho was the second of its kind in four years (Reuters).

Financiers

Commercial banks are financing Vale via corporate loans:

  • a USD 2 billion credit facility from 2017 maturing in 2022 involving 18 banks;
  • a USD 3 billion credit facility from 2015 maturing in 2020, involving 24 banks. This credit facility was replaced with a new five year credit line in December 2019 by a syndicate of 16 banks. See below for more details.

And via underwriting services (for general corporate purposes):

  • USD 1.25 billion, dated June 2016 - June 2026, involving 5 banks;
  • USD 1 billion, dated Aug 2016 - Aug 2026, involving 12 banks;
  • USD 1 billion, dated Feb 2017 - Aug 2026, involving 7 banks.

See below for a specified overview of financial institutions involved.

An overview of Vale's finance from 2008 to 2013 can be accessed here.

Related projects

Projects

active

Ferrogrão EF-170 Railway Brazil

Train and Railroad Manufacturing | Commodities Trading
There are no projects active for Vale now.
on record

Belo Monte dam Brazil

Hydroelectric Power Generation

News

| |
Type:
Year:
blog
external news
our news

Banks injected USD 37.7 billion in mining companies at risk of causing forest destruction and human rights violations

2022-04-12 | Forest & Finance Coalition
blog
external news
our news

Investment funds injected US$ 54.1 billion into mining companies with interests in Indigenous territories in the Amazon

New report by APIB and Amazon Watch reveals main investors of eight large mining companies that wish to explore Indigenous territories in Brazil.
2022-02-22 | Brazil | Amazon Watch, Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB)
blog
external news
our news

Miner Vale drops prospects rights on indigenous lands in Brazil

2021-09-30 | Reuters
blog
external news
our news

American financiers invested more than USD 18 billion in companies linked to Indigenous Rights violations in the Brazilian Amazon

2020-10-27 | Brasília, Brazil and Oakland, USA | Amazon Watch, Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB)
blog
external news
our news

Brazil: Vale reports 33 of 104 dam structures fail stability assessments

2020-10-21 | Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
blog
external news
our news

Vale signs US$ 3 billion revolving credit facility

2019-12-26 | Vale press release
blog
external news
our news

UniCredit urged to do the final ‘right thing’ and drop the coal barons

2019-11-27 | Rome, Italy | BankTrack, ReCommon
blog
external news
our news

Justiça condena subsidiária da Vale por incêndio em floresta no Pará em 2012

Court condemns Vale subsidiary for forest fire in Pará in 2012
2019-08-23 | Brazil | Conjur.com.br
blog
external news
our news

Brumadinho: Vale é condenada pela primeira vez pelo rompimento da barragem da Mina do Córrego do Feijão

2019-07-09 | Brazil | G1.globo.com
blog
external news
our news

Vale's fines doubled for breaking Onça Puma court order

2019-06-17 | Brazil | BNAmericas
blog
external news
our news

Veja os salários de presidentes de grandes empresas

Vale President earned Brazil's 5ht largest salary in 2018
2019-05-31 | Brazil
blog
external news
our news

Vale recebe multa por laudo total ou parcialmente falso

Vale was fined BLR 330,000 for presenting a total ou partially false report regarding the safety of the Brumadinho dam
2019-05-28 | Brazil
blog
external news
our news

Brazil’s Vale in crisis mode as effects of disaster reverberate

2019-04-05 | The Financial Times
blog
external news
our news

Brumadinho dam: NGOs urge companies and investors to use leverage and require Vale to remedy the situation

2019-02-21 | FDCL
blog
external news
our news

Brazil miner Vale knew deadly dam had heightened risk of collapse

2019-02-12 | Reuters
blog
external news
our news

A Tidal Wave of Mud

2019-02-09 | The New York Times
blog
external news
our news

Evacuation alert at Vale-owned mine in Brazil two weeks after disaster

2019-02-08 | The Guardian
blog
external news
our news

Lenders hold off on talks for Vale's $3 billion credit facility

2019-01-31 | Reuters
blog
external news
our news

Brazil dam collapse: five arrested including three mining firm staff

2019-01-29 | The Guardian
blog
external news
our news

Vale’s catastrophic dam failure highlights industry shortcomings

2019-01-29 | Financial Times
blog
external news
our news

Brumadinho dam collapse: lessons in corporate due diligence and remedy for harm done

2019-01-28 | Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
blog
external news
our news

Vale Holds Talks to Expand World's Biggest Open-Pit Iron Mine

2018-11-14 | Bloomberg
blog
external news
our news

IndustriALL and BWI file OECD complaint against BHP Billiton and Vale

2018-03-26 | Industriall-union.org
blog
external news
our news

Vale signs a US$ 2 billion revolving credit facility

Vale press release
2017-09-06 | Vale
blog
external news
our news

Vale signs a US$ 3 billion revolving credit facility

Vale press release
2015-05-15 | Vale
blog
external news
our news

Vale suspende recursos a indígenas e causa reviravolta em comunidades

2015-04-19 | Carta Capital
blog
external news
our news

Scandal and intrigue overshadow environment at the Simandou mine in Guinea

2015-01-20 | Mongabay
blog
external news
our news

Mitsui deve comprar ativo da Vale

2014-12-08 | Valor
blog
external news
our news

ICMBio autoriza expansão da Vale em Carajás

2014-08-18 | Clip tv news
blog
external news
our news

Vale signs long term credit deal with Chinese Eximbank

2014-07-17 | Estadao - in Portuguese
blog
external news
our news

Vale Threatens to Quit Industry Group in Rio Tinto Dispute

2014-07-01 | The Wall Street Jounral
blog
external news
our news

Vale will invest almost 20 billion USD in its largest project in Brazil

2014-06-29 | Estadao - in Portuguese
blog
external news
our news

Vale informs relevant shareholding ownership acquisition

2014-05-28 | Hong Kong Exchanges News
blog
external news
our news

Rio Tinto sues Vale and Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz

2014-05-10 | The Guardian
blog
external news
our news

Rio Tinto Files Lawsuit Against Vale, Beny Steinmetz

2014-04-30 | The Wall Street Journal
blog
external news
our news
private

Irregularidades e violações de direitos humanos cometidas pela Vale são denunciadas pela Articulação dos Atingidos

2014-04-17 | Global Witness
blog
external news
our news

In The Amazon, A New Mining Frontier For Iron Ore

2014-04-03 | The Huffington Post
blog
external news
our news

Risk Contract - How Vale signed a deal to bear all the costs of an obscure multi-billion-dollar mining project in Guinea

2014-03-01 | Revista Piauí
blog
external news
our news

BRAZIL: Vale and Belo Monte suspected of spying – the justice system must investigate

2014-02-18 | fidh
blog
external news
our news

RPT-Norway's opposition wants $800 bln wealth fund banned from coal

2013-11-06 | Reuters
blog
external news
our news

Brazil must investigate illegal spying and infiltration activities involving Vale S.A.

2013-10-23 | fidh
blog
external news
our news

WorleyParsons awarded Nacala rail corridor PMC

2013-09-05 | WorleyParsons
blog
external news
our news

Buried Secrets - How an Israeli billionaire wrested control of one of Africa’s biggest prizes.

2013-07-08 | The New Yorker
blog
external news
our news

Mozambique: Mining Resettlements Disrupt Food, Water

2013-05-23 | Human Rights Watch
blog
external news
our news

The Three Brickmakers accused of disturbing the peace and making death threats to an employee of Vale

2013-05-20 | Ja4Change
blog
external news
our news

Brazil: Former manager accuses Vale of spying on employees & infiltrating social & environmental movements; company response provided

2013-05-02 | Business Human Rights Resource Centre
blog
external news
our news

Vale’s Moatize mine hit by compensation protest

2013-04-26 | Mining Weekly
blog
external news
our news

on Vale's role in the Massacre of Carajás (in portuguese)

2013-04-17 | Magazine Terra
blog
external news
our news

The resistance against the giant Vale mining company is growing worldwide

2013-04-15 | Ejolt
blog
external news
our news

Notes from the Field: Vale-displaced communities in Cateme

2012-10-10 | Ja4Change
blog
external news
our news

Public Eye award singles out mining company Vale

2012-01-27 | The Guardian
blog
external news
our news

Mining Giant Joins Belo Monte Dam

2011-05-02 | International Rivers
blog
external news
our news

Vale Names Former Canada Head Ferreira CEO After Brazil Government Concern

2011-04-05 | Bloomberg
blog
external news
our news

Why I Support the People of Thompson, Canada — And You Should Too – by Michael Moore

2011-02-25 | Republic of Mining
blog
external news
our news

Mining groups target west Africa

2010-05-18 | The Financial Times

Documents

Type:
Year:
ngo documents
2020-10-27 00:00:00

Complicity in Destruction III

2020-10-27 00:00:00 | APIB and Amazon Watch
ngo documents
2020-11-27 00:00:00

Complicity in Destruction III

2020-11-27 00:00:00 | Amazon Watch
ngo documents
2014-11-30 00:00:00

Shifting power and human rights diplomacy - Brazil

(page 57 The case of Vale)
2014-11-30 00:00:00 | Amnesty International
correspondence
2019-02-21 00:00:00

Letter from Civil Society Groups to Companies linked to Vale on Breakdown of Brumadinho tailings dam

2019-02-21 00:00:00 | Civil Society Groups
annual reports
2018-03-31 00:00:00

Sustainability report 2017

2018-03-31 00:00:00 | Vale
ngo documents
2018-05-31 00:00:00

Dirty profits 6

2018-05-31 00:00:00 | Facing Finance
csr policies
2016-09-29 00:00:00

Sustainability policy

2016-09-29 00:00:00 | Vale
csr policies
2019-01-29 00:00:00

Code of ethical conduct

Date listed represents date as accessed on website
2019-01-29 00:00:00 | Vale
other documents
2019-01-29 00:00:00

Finance data 2008-2013

2019-01-29 00:00:00 | BankTrack
annual reports
2018-03-31 00:00:00

Annual report 2017

2018-03-31 00:00:00 | Vale
ngo documents
2014-05-28 00:00:00

Vale's properties worldwide

2014-05-28 00:00:00 | Justiça nos Trilhos
annual reports
2014-01-01 00:00:00

Relatorio de Sustentabilidade 2013

2014-01-01 00:00:00 | Vale
ngo documents
2013-12-10 00:00:00

Dirty Profits II

Report on Companies and Financial Institutions Benefiting from Violations of Human Rights
2013-12-10 00:00:00 | Facing Finance
ngo documents
2013-08-14 00:00:00

Oil palm plantations in Afrcia: past, present and future scenarios

2013-08-14 00:00:00 | Ricardo Carrere / World Rainforest Movement
our publications
2013-07-23 00:00:00

Coal Market Update July 2013

Low prices take their toll on coal firms
2013-07-23 00:00:00 | Greenpeace, BankTrack
ngo documents
2013-05-23 00:00:00

What's a house without food?

Mozambique's Coal mining boom and Resettlements
2013-05-23 00:00:00 | Human Rights Watch
ngo documents
2013-04-02 00:00:00

O Projeto Ferro Carajás S11D, da Vale S.A

Relatório da Missão de Investigação e Incidência
2013-04-02 00:00:00 | DHESCA
annual reports
2013-01-01 00:00:00

Vale 2012 Sustainability Report

2013-01-01 00:00:00
annual reports
2013-01-01 00:00:00

Vale 2012 Annual Report

2013-01-01 00:00:00
ngo documents
2012-06-15 00:00:00

The Vale 2012 Unsustainability Report

2012-06-15 00:00:00 | Justica nos Trilhos
ngo documents
2011-05-18 00:00:00

Brazil - how much are human rights worth in the Brazilian mining and steel industry?

The human rights impacts of the steeland mining industry in Açailândia
2011-05-18 00:00:00 | fidh
ngo documents
2009-10-12 00:00:00

Experts Panel Assesses Belo Monte Dam Viability

2009-10-12 00:00:00 | undação Viver, Produzir e Preservar of Altamira, WWF Brasil, Instituto Sócio Ambiental, International Rivers, FASE and the Rede de Justiça Ambiental

Media

Carajás
















Links

Justiça nos Trilhos

Fighting for the rights of those affected by Vale's railway in Pará, Brazil.
http://www.justicanostrilhos.org

Map by Environmental Justice, of environmental conflicts linked to Vale

http://ejatlas.org/company/vale

Atingidos pela Vale

http://atingidospelavale.wordpress.com/

Seminar on 30 years of Carajás

http://www.seminariocarajas30anos.org/

Impacts in the village of Piquia de Baixo

http://www.piquiadebaixo.justicanostrilhos.org/

Map of communities affected by the expansion of Vale's railway

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/viewer?mid=zoVgGJlnn7qc.k8dTCf2_AU5k

Vale's complaints and grievances channel

http://www.vale.com/brasil/EN/aboutvale/ethics-and-conduct-office/make-complaint/Pages/default.aspx

Video of Brumadinho dam disaster Jan 25 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjiRCWi_zi4

Environmental Justice Atlas conflicts Vale

https://ejatlas.org/featured/envconflictsvale

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/vale
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