MUSCAT -- Vale announced the arrival of its very first iron ore shipment to the Sultanate's shores on board the MV Ore Moatize, following a 14,312 km journey that began from Tubarão Port in Brazil. The MV Ore Moatize was loaded with 143,524 tonnes of iron ore, from which 50,009 tonnes will be utilised for bedding the stockyards and 93,515 tonnes of high quality iron ore will be used for commissioning and production of pellets.
The shipment is currently being unloaded at berth 14 of the port of Sohar whereby the iron ore will then be offloaded with a trans-shipper and transported directly to Vale's stockyard on conveyor belts. Vale's operations in Oman will have an initial production capacity of 9 million metric tonnes of iron pellets per year and a handling capacity of 40 million metric tons per year.
The company set up its Middle East office in Muscat in December 2007 by inaugurating Vale Oman Pelletizing Company with a view to expanding its presence in key regional markets. Vale broke ground for its state-of-the-art Industrial Complex in Sohar in March 2009 comprising of a pelletizing plant, bulk terminal and distribution centre. In May 2010, the Company announced its strategic partnership with the Omani government through one of its investment arms by selling 30 per cent of its shares in the pelletising plant to Oman Oil Company.
Operations are scheduled to begin in the end of 2010, with the estimated total cost of the project at approximately $1.35 billion. Vale is the world's second-largest diversified mining company in market capitalisation. Present in more than 30 countries, Vale is the world's largest producer of iron ore and pellets, key raw materials for the steel industry, and one of the largest producers of nickel, which is used to produce stainless steel, batteries, special alloys, chemicals and other products.
The company also produces copper, manganese, ferroalloys, bauxite, alumina, aluminum and coal, among other raw materials important to the global industrial sector and present in people's daily lives.
© Oman Daily Observer 2010
