Vale CEO: 'always Ready to Move' on 'Special' Acquisitions

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 20, 2010 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- Brazilian mining company Vale SA (VALE, VALE5.BR) is "always ready to move" should any special acquisition opportunities arise, company chief executive officer Roger Agnelli said Wednesday.

However, the company has its own projects in place to meet its 2015 production targets, and so will only make new acquisitions if these offer "special" advantages, for instance in terms of mineral quality, the Vale executive said.

"We are big. We don't need to go after any acquisitions. But we're going to be alert for any special opportunities to acquire," Agnelli said during a meeting with analysts in London.

Vale made several small acquisitions even during the recent global financial crisis because these were opportunities that enhanced its projects portfolio, the executive said. These acquisitions included the Corumba high-grade iron ore mine in Brazil and the Regina potash mine in Canada, both bought from Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN, RIO), and the acquisition of Bunge Ltd.'s (BG) fertilizer assets in Brazil, he said.

"We already have enough iron ore and copper (reserves) for the next 200 years," Agnelli said.

The company already has "everything in place" to meet its 2015 annual output targets of 450 million metric tons of iron ore, 400,000 tons of nickel, 650,000 tons of copper, and 40 million tons of coal, Agnelli said. The company's forecast of reaching 11 million tons of potash production annually by 2016-17 is actually "very conservative", while everything is also in place to reach 17 million tons a year of phosphates by that time, he said.

The Vale executive also said the company never made a firm proposal to purchase Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN) in 2008 and that the only acquisition it really went after in the recent past was that of aluminum producer Alcan Inc., (AL.TSX), which ended up being bought by Rio Tinto.