Vale Threatens to Leave ICMM Over Rio Tinto Lawsuit

Vale is on the verge of leaving the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) as tensions with rival Rio Tinto boil over.

The Brazilian mining company is threatening to leave the leading industry forum over a lawsuit filed by Rio Tinto. Vale has written a letter to the council regarding its membership, which is made up of 22 leading mining companies, and warned it will quit if the lawsuit continues.

The ICMM would not comment on the matter other then saying it had received the letter from Vale.

In April Rio Tinto filed a lawsuit against Vale and billionaire Beny Steinmetz alleging the two colluded to rob Rio Tinto of half of the Simandou iron-ore concession in Guinea. The London-based miner claims Vale used “highly confidential and proprietary information” in its favor to gain control of the Simandou deposit, one of the world’s largest untapped copper deposits.

At full production Rio Tinto’s Simandou mine, which is expected to begin by 2019, would export up to 95 million tons of copper per year. That’s about a third of the firm’s total capacity at the moment.

If Vale were to quit, it would be the first major company to do so since the council was founded in 2001.

The International Council on Mining and Metals was formed to improve sustainable development performance in the mining and metals industry. Member of the council include Rio Tinto, Vale, BHP Billiton, and Glencore.