Vale Coming of Age as Nickel Heavyweight as Prices Sink
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Vale SA, whose $18 billion base-metal incursion was beset by a slew of delays and stoppages, is growing nickel output at the fastest pace in six years at a time of tumbling prices for the stainless steel ingredient.
The Rio de Janeiro-based company beat analysts’ estimates to post a 16 percent jump in nickel production in the third quarter, taking total output of the metal this year to 201,400 metric tons. That puts Vale, which plans to produce 289,000 tons of nickel in 2014, on track to challenge top producer OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, which targets as much as 230,000 tons.