September 08, 2008

Environmental hurdles push back CVRD’s Vermelho nickel project

It is reported that CVRD has pushed back the development of its Vermelho nickel project in Brazil due to difficulty in securing environmental licenses.

Mr Fábio Barbosa CFO of CVRD told reporters during a press conference that "We have two big nickel projects for 2008. 60,000 tonnes per year Goro project in New Caledonia due for completion next year, in addition to the 58,000 tonnes per year Onça Puma project also in Pará where commissioning is expected in late 2008.”

He added that the board of CVRD had approved the development of Vermelho in 2005 and at that time the project was expected to start operations in the last quarter of 2008. Mr Barbosa said that "There is a difficulty in putting all the pieces together. Adding hurdles also include having engineers for the project development.”

Vermelho in Pará state is slated to churn out 46,000 tonnes per year of nickel and 2,800 tonnes per year of cobalt and is due for completion in early 2012.