Brazilian mining major Companhia Vale do Rio Doce’s (Vale) plans to establish its regional base in Oman took a step forward with the signing of a deal with Oman to build a $1 billion iron ore pelletisation plant at the Sohar Industrial Port.

Vale will ship ore from its mines in Brazil to Sohar where it will be converted into pellets and exported to the Arabian Gulf, other Middle East states and Southeast Asia.
Production is expected to commence in the second half of 2010 but Sergio Leite, managing director of Vale’s Oman office said the production capacity had still to be determined.
Earlier it had been announced that Vale planned for a capacity of 9 million tonnes per year.
To pave the way for the project, which will also involve the setting up of an iron ore distribution centre, the Sohar Industrial Port Company will construct a facility to accommodate ore-carrying vessels with drafts of up to 23 m. 
Vale is the second largest diversified metals and mining company in the world and the largest publicly traded company in Latin America by market capitalisation (approximately $150 billion).
It is the world’s largest producer of iron ore and pellets, key raw materials for the steel industry, and one of the largest producers of nickel, which is used to produce stainless steel, batteries, special alloys, chemicals and other products. The company also produces copper, manganese, ferroalloys, bauxite, alumina, aluminum, coal, among other raw materials important to the global industrial sector.
Ahead of the construction of the plant, Vale has set up an office in Muscat.