Vale Base Metals aims to be IPO-ready by midyear, CEO says

Vale Base Metals is working to get its sprawling nickel-and-copper business ready for a potential initial public offering by midyear, sooner than previously indicated.

The task of bringing down costs, lowering capital intensity and accelerating the project pipeline is moving ahead at a faster clip than envisaged, Vale Base Metals chief executive officer Shaun Usmar said on BNN Bloomberg Television. In June, he said the target for getting the unit of Brazilian miner Vale SA ready for a potential IPO was 2027.

“The idea is to get the business IPO-ready for our owners, which we are aiming to do by around the middle of this year,” Usmar said in the Tuesday interview from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto. “It’s an unusual window right now and I do believe our business is performing. But we’re not the owners and our job is to be able to present choice.”

The veteran mining executive has had the task of turning around the once-struggling industrial metals business. Last month, Vale Base Metals agreed to sell most of its stake in a Canadian nickel venture as it focuses on doubling copper production over the next decade. Prices of copper, a key material in the energy transition, have soared about 36% in the past year, four times more than nickel’s gain.

The veteran mining executive has had the task of turning around the once-struggling industrial metals business. Last month, Vale Base Metals agreed to sell most of its stake in a Canadian nickel venture as it focuses on doubling copper production over the next decade. Prices of copper, a key material in the energy transition, have soared about 36% in the past year, four times more than nickel’s gain.

(By James Attwood)