Vale unveils $3.3bn plan to boost copper and nickel output

Vale plans to spend as much as $3.3-billion on improvements at its mining operations in Brazil and Canada to boost copper and nickel production capacity over the next four years. The Brazilian mining giant sees the potential to expand production capacity to about 500 000 tons of copper by 2028 mainly through improvements to its Salobo and Sossego mines in Brazil, Vale said in its latest estimates for its base metals unit. Vale produced 321 000 tons of the wiring metal last year. Nickel also gets a capacity lift.