Iron ore (direct shipping ore & pellets)

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.

Holds 30% of Escondida (world's largest copper mine) and operates Kennecott (Utah) and Oyu Tolgoi (Mongolia, expected ~500kt/yr 2028-2036). Major global copper miner.

BHP Group (ASX/LSE/NYSE: BHP; HQ Melbourne; ~$55B revenue) is the world's largest mining company by market capitalization and a critical node in global process water infrastructure. BHP's Escondida copper mine (Atacama Desert, Chile) — the world's single largest copper mine, producing ~5% of global copper supply — required a $3.4 billion seawater desalination plant (Escondida Water Supply desalination facility, Punta Patache, Antofagasta coast) to pump desalinated seawater ~170 km and 3,500 meters in elevation to the mine. Escondida now recycles ~75% of process water and is transitioning to seawater-only operations. BHP's Olympic Dam mine (South Australia) is the world's largest known uranium deposit and requires water from the Great Artesian Basin (world's largest confined groundwater aquifer) — a different but equally critical water dependency. BHP operates across two of the world's most consequential water-constrained mining regions.

Australia's third-largest iron ore miner; ~14% of global seaborne iron ore; all production from Pilbara, WA (Solomon, Chichester, Iron Bridge hubs); founded 2003 by Andrew Forrest who broke the BHP/Rio Tinto duopoly on Pilbara infrastructure. Annual export ~190 million tonnes. Lower-grade ore (57-60% Fe) than Rio Tinto/BHP benchmark, priced at discount.

Anglo American plc (London; JSE/LSE: AAL; ~$32B revenue; ~$35B market cap) is a major diversified miner with significant copper exposure through Chilean and Peruvian operations. Anglo American co-owns Collahuasi (44%; one of Chile's largest copper mines, ~600,000 tonnes/year Cu production capacity, Tarapacá Region) and Los Bronces (open-pit porphyry copper mine near Santiago; ~200,000 tonnes/year Cu). Anglo American's 2024 restructuring — driven by a rejected BHP takeover bid at ~$39B — included a plan to spin off or sell its platinum, coal, and nickel businesses to focus on copper, iron ore, and crop nutrients. This restructuring signals Anglo American's strategic view that copper is the defining metal of the energy transition. Anglo American's copper production is approximately 660,000-750,000 tonnes/year (combined mines), representing ~4% of global copper mine supply.