“We applaud the federal budget’s focus on critical minerals and the creation of the Major Projects Office to accelerate development. Ontario’s leading efforts to simplify permitting with a ‘One Project, One Process’ mindset are also very encouraging.”
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Can you give us an operational update on your first year in charge of Vale Base Metals?
The thesis when I took over was to take what had been an almost invisible part of Vale S.A.’s portfolio, unlock and highlight the value, and position the business for a potential future IPO. In year one, we moved from a highly centralized model to a lean, decentralized organization.
We have delivered three consecutive strong quarters, we are on track to meet the top end of production guidance for copper and nickel, and we have lowered all-in-sustaining cost guidance for both business segments – a first in this business’s history.
Where is the C$500,000 of funding from the CMIF being deployed, and what impact will it have?
The CMIF funding supports the design and piloting of next-generation carbonyl reactors. The goals are to expand processing capacity, improve efficiency, and increase our flexibility to process recycled battery materials and other alternative critical mineral feedstocks. It is also a cornerstone for circular mining, taking a proven technology and modernizing it to support North American supply chains for the energy transition.
How has Vale Base Metals’ polymetallic portfolio helped over the last 12 months?
Polymetallic structures are an advantage only if you can separate and monetize responsibly at scale, which is what we are successfully doing at our Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador operations. At Voisey’s Bay, we completed a US$2.94 billion underground expansion last year, and the ramp-up has outperformed by roughly 20–30% versus internal plans. This has enabled our Long Harbour Processing Plant to achieve nameplate capacity in recent months for the first time in its 11-year history.
In Sudbury, we are investing more capital across three years than in any comparable three-year period in the last two decades to enhance the throughput and cost structure of our downstream facilities. This has enabled us to increase mill throughput by 40% this year from our own mine feed.
The above investments and improvements are essential to make our Canadian nickel business globally competitive in the face of overwhelming Chinese and Indonesian oversupply that has caused large volumes of Western supply to close. Around 50% of our revenue from Sudbury and 75% from Voisey’s Bay is derived from nickel, with the rest coming from copper, cobalt, PGMs, gold, and silver, offering an underappreciated exposure to a diverse range of valuable commodities.
How are federal and provincial critical minerals policies affecting Vale Base Metals, and what would you like to see next?
We applaud the federal budget’s focus on critical minerals and the creation of the Major Projects Office to accelerate development. Ontario’s leading efforts to simplify permitting with a ‘One Project, One Process’ mindset are also very encouraging.
Although we understand the federal budget’s emphasis on investment in large greenfield projects like the Ring of Fire, we think more needs to be done to support the foundational role that mature mining operations like Sudbury play in Canadian mining and critical minerals supply. These operations employ thousands of Canadians, generating vast regional wealth and under-appreciated growth potential with lower risk. Integrated mining complexes like Sudbury are the original Canadian critical minerals story – reliably supplying high-purity nickel to our allies for more than a century, including more than 60% of high-purity nickel used today by the U.S. aerospace and defense sector.
We are working hard to ensure the global competitiveness of Canadian nickel for future generations in the face of Indonesian and Chinese oversupply. I believe that highly prospective, mature operations like these offer the best risk/reward investment outlook to supply Canada and allies with critical minerals today and for the near future, while allowing time to invest in rebuilding our mining ecosystem and unlock Canada’s vast longer-term greenfield potential.
Can you update us on your Brazilian assets?
Salobo, our flagship copper operation, is on track for a second straight year of record production with room to grow. At Sossego, the team delivered a nearly 40% improvement in unit costs this year. They unlocked marginal stockpiles and advanced underground options below the pit based on excellent exploration drilling results. At Onça Puma, Furnace 2 was delivered on time, 13% under budget, with zero lost time injuries. The operation is now set to sit in the lower half of the global nickel cost curve, which is essential in an oversupplied market.
We made significant progress advancing our copper growth pipeline this year, with final approval to begin construction of the Bacaba Project expected imminently and the completion of a new technical study for the Alemão Project that significantly reduces capital intensity and dramatically increases projected returns. Our capital intensities are well below industry averages, and returns for some of these projects are well in excess of 50%.
Finally, we more than doubled exploration drilling this year in Brazil from around 30,000 m to over 60,000 m to further expand our copper resource, with very encouraging results. Drilling will nearly double again in 2026 to over 100,000 m.
What are your immediate priorities for the next year?
We will look to build on the momentum generated by our transformation, consolidating the improvements we made this year while delivering safe, reliable production and continuing to find opportunities to safely grow value from our organic portfolio and educate the market on this under-appreciated and rare copper opportunity and strategic nickel portfolio.
We will also continue to advance our copper growth pipeline in Brazil along lower CapEx, higher return pathways, while working diligently to increase the global competitiveness of our nickel business. In addition, following our agreement with Glencore announced in December, in 2026, we will explore the synergies of mining our adjacent underground copper deposits in Sudbury. A final investment decision is not expected until early 2027, but we are excited about this opportunity.
Vale Base Metals is building a truly world-class base metals business to provide a secure, responsible, competitive supply of the critical minerals that are at the nexus of energy transition and the generational shift in technology reshaping our world.
Can you give us an operational update on your first year in charge of Vale Base Metals?
The thesis when I took over was to take what had been an almost invisible part of Vale S.A.’s portfolio, unlock and highlight the value, and position the business for a potential future IPO. In year one, we moved from a highly centralized model to a lean, decentralized organization.
We have delivered three consecutive strong quarters, we are on track to meet the top end of production guidance for copper and nickel, and we have lowered all-in-sustaining cost guidance for both business segments – a first in this business’s history.
Where is the C$500,000 of funding from the CMIF being deployed, and what impact will it have?
The CMIF funding supports the design and piloting of next-generation carbonyl reactors. The goals are to expand processing capacity, improve efficiency, and increase our flexibility to process recycled battery materials and other alternative critical mineral feedstocks. It is also a cornerstone for circular mining, taking a proven technology and modernizing it to support North American supply chains for the energy transition.
How has Vale Base Metals’ polymetallic portfolio helped over the last 12 months?
Polymetallic structures are an advantage only if you can separate and monetize responsibly at scale, which is what we are successfully doing at our Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador operations. At Voisey’s Bay, we completed a US$2.94 billion underground expansion last year, and the ramp-up has outperformed by roughly 20–30% versus internal plans. This has enabled our Long Harbour Processing Plant to achieve nameplate capacity in recent months for the first time in its 11-year history.
In Sudbury, we are investing more capital across three years than in any comparable three-year period in the last two decades to enhance the throughput and cost structure of our downstream facilities. This has enabled us to increase mill throughput by 40% this year from our own mine feed.
The above investments and improvements are essential to make our Canadian nickel business globally competitive in the face of overwhelming Chinese and Indonesian oversupply that has caused large volumes of Western supply to close. Around 50% of our revenue from Sudbury and 75% from Voisey’s Bay is derived from nickel, with the rest coming from copper, cobalt, PGMs, gold, and silver, offering an underappreciated exposure to a diverse range of valuable commodities.
How are federal and provincial critical minerals policies affecting Vale Base Metals, and what would you like to see next?
We applaud the federal budget’s focus on critical minerals and the creation of the Major Projects Office to accelerate development. Ontario’s leading efforts to simplify permitting with a ‘One Project, One Process’ mindset are also very encouraging.
Although we understand the federal budget’s emphasis on investment in large greenfield projects like the Ring of Fire, we think more needs to be done to support the foundational role that mature mining operations like Sudbury play in Canadian mining and critical minerals supply. These operations employ thousands of Canadians, generating vast regional wealth and under-appreciated growth potential with lower risk. Integrated mining complexes like Sudbury are the original Canadian critical minerals story – reliably supplying high-purity nickel to our allies for more than a century, including more than 60% of high-purity nickel used today by the U.S. aerospace and defense sector.
We are working hard to ensure the global competitiveness of Canadian nickel for future generations in the face of Indonesian and Chinese oversupply. I believe that highly prospective, mature operations like these offer the best risk/reward investment outlook to supply Canada and allies with critical minerals today and for the near future, while allowing time to invest in rebuilding our mining ecosystem and unlock Canada’s vast longer-term greenfield potential.
Can you update us on your Brazilian assets?
Salobo, our flagship copper operation, is on track for a second straight year of record production with room to grow. At Sossego, the team delivered a nearly 40% improvement in unit costs this year. They unlocked marginal stockpiles and advanced underground options below the pit based on excellent exploration drilling results. At Onça Puma, Furnace 2 was delivered on time, 13% under budget, with zero lost time injuries. The operation is now set to sit in the lower half of the global nickel cost curve, which is essential in an oversupplied market.
We made significant progress advancing our copper growth pipeline this year, with final approval to begin construction of the Bacaba Project expected imminently and the completion of a new technical study for the Alemão Project that significantly reduces capital intensity and dramatically increases projected returns. Our capital intensities are well below industry averages, and returns for some of these projects are well in excess of 50%.
Finally, we more than doubled exploration drilling this year in Brazil from around 30,000 m to over 60,000 m to further expand our copper resource, with very encouraging results. Drilling will nearly double again in 2026 to over 100,000 m.
What are your immediate priorities for the next year?
We will look to build on the momentum generated by our transformation, consolidating the improvements we made this year while delivering safe, reliable production and continuing to find opportunities to safely grow value from our organic portfolio and educate the market on this under-appreciated and rare copper opportunity and strategic nickel portfolio.
We will also continue to advance our copper growth pipeline in Brazil along lower CapEx, higher return pathways, while working diligently to increase the global competitiveness of our nickel business. In addition, following our agreement with Glencore announced in December, in 2026, we will explore the synergies of mining our adjacent underground copper deposits in Sudbury. A final investment decision is not expected until early 2027, but we are excited about this opportunity.
Vale Base Metals is building a truly world-class base metals business to provide a secure, responsible, competitive supply of the critical minerals that are at the nexus of energy transition and the generational shift in technology reshaping our world.
