Business

Vale announced on Thursday, February 20th, its financial result for the 4Q19. The company remains committed to increase the safety of people and to repair the damage caused by the breach of Brumadinho dam.

One year has passed since the Dam I rupture, and I would like to restate our respect for the families of the victims. Vale remains firm in its purposes: to integrally repair Brumadinho and to ensure the safety of our people and our assets. We have made significant progress, with an effective reparation program, relevant governance and operational improvements, and a decharacterization plan for our upstream tailings dams under accelerated implementation. We are de-risking Vale. We are paving the way to make our business better, safer and more stable

Eduardo Bartolomeo, Chief Executive Officer

Reparation progress

Since the first hours of the dam rupture, Vale has taken care of victims and families impacted, providing assistance to restore their dignity and livelihoods. Vale has also provided support to local governments and public entities, given the extent of the impacts and of the halting of Vale's operations in the region. To support the rescue of fauna and mitigate environmental impacts, over 700 professionals, a hospital and an animal shelter were mobilized.

Repairing the damage caused in a fair and agile way is fundamental to the families, and Vale has prioritized initiatives and resources for that end. Based on open dialogue with authorities and people affected, Vale has drawn up the Integral Reparation Program, structured in social, environmental and infrastructure pillars, to ensure that actions and resources will effectively compensate individuals and communities, recover the environment and enable sustainable development of Brumadinho and surroundings.

The initiatives carried out by the company comprise:

• Labour indemnification to 244 of the 250 employees that lost their lives in the disaster, comprehending 611 agreements, 1,570 beneficiaries and R$1.4 billion paid out
• Individual or collective indemnification reaching 4,451 beneficiaries and more than R$ 679 million paid
• Emergency aid payment to approximately 106,000 people residing in Brumadinho and along the Paraopeba river
• A plan has been developed to remove and treat tailings, recover fauna and flora and ensure the water catchment and supply to the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region
• Two Water Treatment Stations (ETAF) are already operating to clean and return treated water to the Ferro-Carvão stream and the Paraopeba river
• The first decharacterized dam, 8B, was completed in December 2019

On our website, we report the actions taken so far: www.vale.com/repairoverview

In 2019, proforma EBITDA totaled US$ 18 billion, US$ 1.4 billion higher than in 2018, mainly due to higher prices (US$ 5.991 billion) and favorable foreign exchange variations (US$ 571 million).

In 2019, adjusted EBITDA of the Ferrous Minerals business segment was US$ 16.997 billion, 16% higher than in 2018, mainly due to higher prices (US$ 6.099 billion), which were offset by lower volumes (US$ 2.463 billion) and higher costs (US$ 885 million), following Dam I rupture impacts.

Our cash generation was US$ 8.105 billion in 2019, enabling the increase in cash and cash equivalents to US$ 8.176 billion, US$ 2.452 billion higher than 4Q18.

To check financial and production reports, click below. On Friday, February 21st, will be held webcasts for investor at 10am (Portuguese) and 12pm (English) – Brasilia time.