Vale says it’s ‘on right track’ to resume dividend payments

The company suspended dividend payments after a deadly dam burst last year that killed hundreds of Brazilians in the town of Brumadinho. It was the second deadly dam burst at a Vale-linked dam in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais in less than four years, and sparked a management shake-up as well as a pair of criminal investigations.

Executives have been reticent to discuss the possibility of resuming dividend payments since then.

In late April, Chief Financial Officer Luciano Siani said the company would consider the issue after repaying revolving credit lines the company took out in March to confront the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In the presentation to Bank of America’s Global Metals, Mining & Steel Conference, Vale forecast approximate annual capital expenditure of $5 billion in 2020 and 2021, and $4.5 billion thereafter. A Vale spokeswoman, however, said the company was not changing its official 2020 capital expenditure guidance of $4.6 billion.

Vale also said it would invest $2 billion in renewable energy, but did not offer a proposed timeline for renewable energy investments.