Producer
Vale S.A.
Vale S.A. (B3: VALE3; NYSE: VALE; HQ Rio de Janeiro; ~$42B revenue 2023) is Brazil's largest mining company and a major global nickel producer (~7% global nickel supply). Vale operates the Clydach Nickel Refinery in Wales, UK — one of the few Western Class 1 nickel refineries capable of producing battery-grade nickel sulfate — and holds a majority stake in Vale Base Metals Ltd (formerly PT Vale Indonesia / PTVI), which operates nickel operations in Sorowako, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, including a growing HPAL project (Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi, with Huayou and Ford Motor as JV partners). Vale's nickel business spans Canadian sulfide mining (Sudbury, Ontario; Thompson, Manitoba; Voisey's Bay, Labrador) and Indonesian laterite operations. Vale's Clydach refinery is one of the last large-scale European Class 1 nickel refining assets; its continued operation is strategically important for Western EV battery supply chain ambitions.
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Inputs supplied
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Goods downstream
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Facilities
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Stories
What they make
2 inputs Vale S.A. supplies
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Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something Vale S.A. makes — pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
2 facilities
Carajás Iron Ore Complex →
BRPará, Brazil · mine
World's largest iron ore mine; 7.2B tonne reserves; ~350 Mt/yr capacity; ore grade ~67% Fe (highest in world); 892 km railroad to Ponta da Madeira port
Vale Clydach Nickel Refinery →
GBWales · processing
Vale's Clydach Nickel Refinery in Clydach, Swansea Valley, Wales, UK — operational since 1902, making it one of the world's oldest continuously operating nickel refineries. Clydach processes nickel matte from Vale's Canadian sulfide mining operations (Sudbury, Ontario) into Class 1 nickel rounds and nickel sulfate crystals suitable for battery cathode precursor production. As the UK's only nickel refinery and one of the last remaining Class 1 Western European nickel refining assets, Clydach is strategically important for UK and EU battery supply chain sovereignty. Vale's ownership makes Clydach's continued operation subject to Brazilian corporate capital allocation decisions rather than UK industrial policy. Source: Vale base metals operations; NS Energy Business Clydach profile; Wikipedia.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Iron Ore & Pellets
72%Nickel (Sulfide & Laterite)
13%Copper
8%Cobalt & Battery Materials
4%Energy & Services
3%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2023
Vale simultaneously supplies iron ore to steelmakers who manufacture the internal combustion engine vehicles that EVs are designed to replace, AND supplies battery-grade nickel sulfate to EV battery manufacturers building the replacement. Vale's Carajas iron ore feeds blast furnaces at Nippon Steel, POSCO, and Baosteel that make automotive steel for Toyota Camrys and Ford F-150s. Vale's Clydach Nickel Refinery in Wales and its Canadian operations supply Class 1 nickel for CATL, LG Energy Solution, and Panasonic EV battery cathodes. Vale is therefore actively participating in both sides of the automotive industry transition -- mining the steel inputs for ICE vehicles while simultaneously building the battery material supply chain intended to make those vehicles obsolete. This positions Vale as a rare company that profits regardless of which technology wins the automotive transition.
Vale S.A. ↗Incident2021
Vale's Brumadinho tailings dam collapse (2019) killed 272 people and forced inspections that temporarily took ~93 Mt/yr of iron ore capacity offline On January 25, 2019, Vale's Brumadinho iron ore tailings dam in Minas Gerais state collapsed, killing 272 people and releasing 12 million cubic meters of toxic mine waste into the Paraopeba River. Brazilian regulators ordered the suspension or dewatering of 90 similar upstream-design dams; the capacity impacts totaled ~93 Mt/yr (~10% of global seaborne supply). Benchmark iron ore prices (62% Fe CFR China) surged from $72 to $125/tonne within four months. Vale was fined ~$7B and agreed to pay $15.6B in settlements — the largest corporate settlement in Brazilian history.
Reuters ↗Origin2023
Vale was founded in 1942 as Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) by the Vargas government of Brazil specifically to exploit the Itabira iron ore deposits in Minas Gerais during WWII, when Allied steel production desperately needed new ore sources and European mines were disrupted. The Brazilian government had tried to develop Itabira since the 1920s but could not attract foreign capital on terms that preserved Brazilian control. Vargas nationalized the concession and created CVRD as a state enterprise. The company was privatized in 1997 during the Cardoso government's reform program, becoming Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (later renamed Vale) -- and since privatization has become the world's largest iron ore company, producing approximately 300 million metric tonnes per year from Carajas, the world's highest-grade iron ore deposit.
Vale S.A. ↗