Vale SA Looks to Pump $10 Billion into Canada

Brazilian mining giant Vale SA is looking forward to investing about $10 billion in Canadian Mining. Vale had entered Canada by taking over Inco Ltd, a nickel mining company in 2006. The company had paid nearly $20 billion for the investment however things have not gone too smoothly for Vale in Canada.

There has been a 12 month long strike at the Sudbury mine of union workers which has just ended and there is still a 15 month long strike on in Voisey’s Bay in Labrador. In fact when the BHP Billiton hostile takeover bid for Potash Corp of Saskatchewan was announced in August Vale took the brunt of negative public opinion.

Many advocates for domestic control of the economy who were against the bid made a punching bag out of Vale and pointed to it as an example of why foreign investment should not be allowed in Canada. In a bid to turn around the image of the company in Canada and to prove its commitment to the country company has decided to announce this hefty investment plan.

Of the investment $3.4 billion will be spent on Sudbury to upgrade mining infrastructure. About $2 billion will be used to reduce the sulphur dioxide levels in the Sudbury Basin project. $3 billion will be used to set up a Greenfield potash project in Saskatchewan.