Source Miningweb.com
Author: Dorothy Kosich
World No. 1 iron ore miner Vale reported Wednesday its net income plunged 84% in the second quarter of this year from US$5.1 billion or $1.04 per share in second-quarter 2008 to $790 million (15-cents/sh) for second-quarter 2009.
While shipments of iron ore and pellets increased by 3.3% on a quarter-on-quarter basis to 53.82 million metric tons, the decrease in iron ore and pellet prices caused a fall of US$957 million, according to Vale.
China remained Vale's main iron ore market at 39.7%, followed by Brazil at 15.8%, Japan at 7.4% and Canada at 6.2%.
Total revenues from the sales of non-ferrous minerals in second-quarter 2009 reached US$1.9 billion, a $394 million increase over the previous quarter. The increase was attributed to higher nickel prices and shipments, and higher copper prices.
Nickel shipments increased by 16.85% to 69,000 metric tons on a quarter-on-quarter basis. Sales of nickel generated revenues of $916 million in the second quarter of this year. Copper sales in 2Q09 amounted to $271 million, compared with $236 million in the first quarter.
PGMs reached revenues of $54 million, similar to the previous quarter. Cobalt revenues dropped 7.7% to $12 million.
Revenues from bauxite, alumina, and aluminum increased to $468 million during the second quarter. The increase was attributed to an 81.5% increase in shipments and an 18.5% increase in average metals prices.
Potash revenues increased 86.25 % on a quarter-by-quarter basis, reaching $121 million in the second quarter. Kaolin revenues increased to $42 million.
Revenues from coal reached $96 million with total shipments of 1.117 million metric tons, a 14.4% increase.
The company reported cash holdings of $11.2 billion as of June 30th. Total debt was reported at $19.493 billion. |
