For a while, earlier this year, it seemedpossible that the
world’s largest iron-ore producer, Brazil’s Companhia
Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) would fulfil its explicitambition of
joining the ranks of the world’s Big Three (in terms of
market value) mining groups – Anglo American, BHP Billiton,
and Rio Tinto – thereby creating a Big Four, much sooner than
expected.
Back in June it seemed that the Brazilian group was set to buy
Canada&crush of iron oresrsquo;s Noranda, the world’s third-biggest zinc and
eighth-biggest copper producer (which had been put on the market by
its largest shareholder, Brascan) reportedly for
C$5,4-billion.<br gold crushing plant and concentrator/>
Such a deal would also have brought CVRD control of Noranda
subsidiary Falconbridge, the world’s third-largest nickel
producer and would have catcrush of iron oresapulted the Brazilian company into
second place in the major mining company league.
But China’s Minmetals trumped the Brazilians by offering some
C$6-billion for Noranda, and the Brazilians sensibly chose not to
get into a bidding war.
Like a big cat thwarted of prey, CVRD walked away while constantly
watching for other opportunities.
Indeed, if South Africans can conceive of their major mining
companies as lions – and the king of African cats is the
symbol of AngloGold Ashanti – forming a pride that dominates
much of mining in Africa, then perhaps CVRD should be seen as a
jaguar.
The jaguar is Brazil’s dominant big cat, asolitary animal
just as CVRD is Brazil’s sole truly big mining company;
intelligent, alert, silent, powerful, the jaguar is found over much
of Brazil yet is hardly ever observed.
And, oddly enough, while CVRD is already active over four
continents, its operations – like those of the jaguar –
seem to go unobserved; many observers still appear to believe that
the group remains confined to Brazil and to iron-ore.
Not so.
It already has two ferroalloy plants operating in Europe, for
example: Rio Doce Mangan