Brazil's Vale explores copper joint venture with Glencore in Canada

LONDON/SAO PAULO, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Brazilian miner Vale VALE3.SA said on Tuesday that its base metals unit is in talks with Glencore GLEN.L to form a copper joint venture in Canada that could yield around 900,000 metric tons of the energy transition metal over 21 years.

Vale said it plans to form an equal joint venture with Glencore, expecting "significant synergies." A final investment decision is due in the first half of 2027.

At its annual investor day in London, Vale also said it expects its iron ore production to rise by up to 3% in 2026 and confirmed it would meet the upper end of its 2025 output target.

Vale forecast its iron ore output between 335 million and 345 million metric tons next year, compared with 335 million tons in 2025. It expects to mine 360 million tons in 2030.

The firm has worked to restore production capacity that was hurt by the deadly 2019 Brumadinho dam disaster, and hopes to reclaim this year the title of world's largest iron ore producer, surpassing Rio Tinto RIO.L.

GLENCORE PARTNERSHIP, BASE METALS FORECASTS

Copper and nickel subsidiary Vale Base Metals' agreement with Glencore is to jointly evaluate a brownfield copper development project at their adjacent properties in Canada's Sudbury Basin.

VBM in 2023 sold a 10% stake to Saudi mining investment vehicle Manara, and then said it could consider an initial public offering within three to four years.

While the company still sees a listing as an option, it does not rule out other long-term prospects, including another minority sale or M&A transaction, CEO Gustavo Pimenta told reporters on Tuesday.

"The goal at the end is to create value for our shareholders, to grow the asset base, particularly in copper, and we will assess the market depending on the situation at the time," Pimenta said.

"The first transaction that we did was a private deal with Manara; we could do another one. We could do an IPO. We could fund ourselves ... but this is a problem for us to resolve later," he added.

Vale has been toying with the idea of an IPO for its base metals assets since 2014, when it said it was considering listing 30% to 40% of the division.

The project is expected to produce 880,000 tons of copper over 21 years for $1.6 billion to $2 billion. Vale forecast copper output of 350,000-380,000 tons in 2026 and nickel output of 175,000 - 200,000 tons.