Vale, formerly CVRD, joins the Parker Centre

March 19th, 2010
Vale, the second largest mining company in the world, has joined the Parker Centre, the world's leading hydrometallurgy research provider, as a Core Industry Participant.
Formerly CVRD, Vale is a multi-commodity, multinational company headquartered in Brazil, and is the world's largest iron ore miner and the world's second largest nickel producer. The company's other products include bauxite & alumina, aluminium, copper, manganese, potash, coal and kaolin.
Parker Centre Managing Director Dr Steve Rogers says the Centre's Board and Participants are pleased to welcome Vale as a significant new Centre Participant. He notes that Vale's addition extends the international spread of the Centre's Industry Participants into South America, adding to Participants who are headquartered in Australia, North America, South Africa and Europe.
The Centre's relationship with Vale began with mutual visits for discussions in 2004 and 2005, but gained traction with the secondment of a senior representative from Vale's Mineral Development Centre in Brazil to Perth, Western Australia in 2006. This representative has acted as Vale's liaison for research conducted between Vale and Australian mineral processing researchers, including base metals-related projects with the Parker Centre.
Since 2006, Vale has invested over A$1.5 million in research projects with the Centre. Dr Streltsova says Vale's investment will continue, but with the company having a greater involvement in the Centre as a Core Participant.
The Parker Centre operates as a multi-million-dollar collaborative joint venture between four Core Research Participants (CSIRO Process Science and Engineering, Curtin University of Technology, Murdoch University and the University of Queensland), ten Core Industry Participants from the minerals industry (Alcoa of Australia, AngloGold Ashanti Australia, Aughinish Alumina, BHP Billiton, Billiton Aluminium Australia, Hatch Associates, Queensland Alumina, Rio Tinto, Rio Tinto Alcan and Vale) and 12 Supporting Participants (Barrick Gold, Central TAFE, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Minara Resources, Minerals Council of Australia, Nalco Australia, Norsk Hydro, Nyrstar, Outotec, Straits Resources, WA Department of Commerce and WorleyParsons Services).