Vale project may cost up to RM14b

By TEE LIN SAY 

The Star

Friday January 21, 2011

IPOH: Brazilian mining giant Vale International SA's construction costs in its iron-ore transshipment project will be between RM9bil and RM14bil over a five-year period, and the project will likely start in July or August this year, said Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

Vale has received the necessary planning and statutory approvals. It is now in the midst of drawing up the engineering plan.

While the Perak government has no equity participation in the project, it will participate in the port and logistics operations. There will also be co-sharing with local companies on the downstream activities. The multiplier effect of the downstream activities is expected to triple Vale's initial investment.

“Vale has agreed to bring more economic growth along that area. Local companies will be subcontracted to participate in the trickle-down activities. They will include Malaysian companies involved in iron ore, steel, fabrication, shipbuilding, canning and tin,” Zambry said.

Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir … ‘Local companies will be subcontracted to participate in the trickle-down activities.’

Under the project, Vale will develop an iron-ore complex, including its own jetty in Teluk Rubiah, Lumut. Zambry said this would serve as an impetus for the development of iron ore and steel-related industries.

“This will be Vale's largest factory outside Brazil. All the necessary acquisitions have been made; it is just a matter of coming out to do it now,” he said.

He said the shipbuilding activities would take place along the beachfront from Lumut to Bagan Datok.

Vale expected to call for RM3b seaport tender

The Brazilian iron ore producer plans to call for an international tender as early as November to help build a seaport in Perak

Brazil's Vale SA, the world's largest iron ore producer, plans to call for an international tender as early as November to help build a seaport in Teluk Rubiah, Perak, near the Straits of Malacca.


Business Times understands that the value of the contract is slightly more than RM3 billion and its duration is about 30 months.


Construction work is expected to start in the first quarter of next year.


Vale will employ some 3,000 workers, making the project the biggest in Perak in terms of capital investment and labour.

It is further understood that Vale will allocate some portion of the contract to local firms and that KYM Holdings Bhd had started talking with various foreign companies to submit a joint bid. KYM chief operating officer Allan Chin Kong Yaw declined to comment.

Vale has appointed Murray & Roberts Marine Ltd, a South African company, to do the design work for the jetty. The actual design work is being done in Cape Town, South Africa, with local unit Murray & Roberts (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, acting as the go-between. A joint venture between Murray & Roberts and SNC Lavalin Australia Pty Ltd has been put in charge as construction manager to manage local subcontractors.

Last December, Vale signed an agreement with Integrax Bhd's 80 per cent-owned Lekir Bulk Terminal Sdn Bhd to provide the latter with transhipment services for iron ore cargo at a bulk terminal at Pulau Lekir Satu for over 10 years. People who work closely with Vale on the project say the jetty has been designed to be 2.5km long, with the berth having a 30-metre depth.

The seaport is designed to accommodate as many as four ships of 400,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt) capacity at one go. It will have an additional 10 berths for ships of 100,000 dwt capacity as well as berths for 50 barges.

Vale has placed orders for 12 very large, 400,000 dwt ore carriers from Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries Co Ltd. The vessels are expected to be delivered by end-2012.

Vale intends to use Teluk Rubiah as its base to ship to China, the world's biggest iron ore consumer, as commercial freight rates from Vale's Brazilian ports to China are double those paid by competitors BHP Billiton plc and Rio Tinto Group from Australia because of the greater distance.

KYM, Vale agree to extend deadline for property sale

The Star 3/8/2010
PETALING JAYA: KYM Holdings Bhd has mutually agreed with Harta Makmur Sdn Bhd and Vale Malaysia Manufacturing Sdn Bhd to extend the cut-off date for a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) involving 13 parcels of leasehold properties to Aug 31.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, KYM said the parties had signed a conditional SPA on March 31 pursuant to Vale exercising its option to purchase the properties, totalling 305.94ha, from KYM’s 54%-owned unit Harta Makmur for RM93.76mil cash.

Harta Makmur last year sold 485.6ha of leasehold land in Teluk Rubiah to Vale for RM195.7mil.

In a separate statement, KYM said its wholly-owned unit KYM Built Sdn Bhd had on July 29 accepted a contract from Vale Malaysia for the refurbishment of a building for the use as a site office and upgrading of the main entrance at Teluk Rubiah, Perak for RM300,265.

“The contract is expected to commence next week and will be completed within a month.

“None of the directors or major shareholders or persons connected to the directors or major shareholders of KYM has any direct or indirect interest in the award of contract,” it said.

Brazil's Vale: Oman, Malaysia Pellet Plants On Tap - Report

Next Dow Jones Article
Brazil's Vale: Oman, Malaysia Pellet Plants On Tap - Report4-18-08 3:07 PM EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO -(Dow Jones)- Brazilian mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO), or Vale, expects to move forward with pellet plant projects in Oman and Malaysia, a company executive told the local Estado news agency Friday.

Vale has completed a feasibility study to build a pellet plant to produce 10 million metric tons per year in Oman, said Jose Carlos Martins, Vale's director of iron ore mining. According to Martins, Vale's board should vote to approve the project in April or May.

Martins made the comments during the inauguration of a third pellet plant at pellet producer Samarco. Samarco is a 50-50 joint venture between Vale and BHP Billiton (BHP).
Construction on the Oman pellet project was expected to begin later in 2008, Martins said.
In addition, construction on a pellet plant in Malaysia should start in 2009, Martins said. Vale is currently looking for a local partner to also take part in the project, which has also not yet been given the green light by Vale's board.
"We have an interest in meeting growing demand in Southeast Asia," Martins told Estado.

-By Jeff Fick, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-21-3288-5011; jeff.fick@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-18-081507ET
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