Company invests US$300 million to develop technology for exploring places where people cannot reach
Bruno Porto
Source: Hoje em Dia, Minas Gerais
(published on 10 December 2010)
The development of technologies for mining in hard-to-reach locations (at great depth, in deserts, on the seabed or in tropical forests) has become a strategic investment area for Vale. Over the next three years, US$300 million (around R$513 million) will be spent on building three centers for the Vale Technology Institute (ITV).
This is the biggest ever spontaneous investment in research and development in the mining sector in Brazil. The researchers will be charged with developing technologies to reduce operating costs to make it feasible to mine deposits of iron ore, copper and other natural resources in places that are remote or inaccessible to people.
Together with the academic community, Vale anticipates a shortage of such resources as a result of growing demand, and it plans to expand its own reserves and develop the technical capacity for exploration on still-virgin ground.
The ITV’s three centers will be based in Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais), Belém (Pará) and São José dos Campos (São Paulo). According to the ITV’s director, Luiz Mello, within three years the mining company will already be using new technologies developed at these centers.
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