Brazilian mining giant Vale posted a net profit of $3.9 billion for the third quarter Thursday, continuing its rebound from the coronavirus pandemic and a deadly dam collapse in 2019.
The company’s profit was up 34 percent from the third quarter of 2020 ($2.9 billion), though it fell shy of the $7.6-billion profit reported for the second quarter.
Vale said that was due partly to a slide in iron ore prices triggered by China cutting steel production.
A two-month strike at Vale’s mining complex in Sudbury, Ontario also had an impact, causing a plunge in production of nickel derivatives in the third quarter, the company said.
Vale is rebounding from the back-to-back blows of the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2019 collapse of a mine-waste dam in Brumadinho, in southeastern Brazil, which killed 270 people.
The company said Thursday it had reached an agreement to pay damages to 11,400 people, for a total of 2.7 billion reais (around $490 million).
