Nickel

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Origins

We have developed a Sustainable Mining Plan that will foster innovation and deliver step change results across the entire mining value chain.

What is nickel used for?

Stainless steel has become iconic of high-tech design and construction. Most stainless steels contain about 8-10% nickel. Around two-thirds of all refined nickel produced is used by the stainless steel industry.

Nickel is used to make other alloys with special properties. Corrosion-resistant alloys are used in chemical plants, while ‘super-alloys’ withstand extreme temperatures and are used in aviation. Nickel is also used in electronics and as a substrate for chromium plating.

Nickel is the fifth-most common element on Earth and occurs in sulphides found underground and laterites that can be mined using open pit methods.

Our business

Our nickel business is well placed to serve the global stainless steel industry, which depends on nickel and drives demand for it. Our mine assets are in Brazil, with two ferronickel production sites: Barro Alto and Codemin, in the state of Goiás.

The stainless steel industry uses two-thirds of the world’s nickel production and virtually all ferronickel produced each year. The balance is used mainly in the manufacture of alloy steel and other non-ferrous alloys.

Leadership

Ruben Fernandes

Chief Operating Officer

Ruben Fernandes

Chief Operating Officer

MBA, MSc (Metallurgical Engineering), CEO of Base Metals, since March 2019

As Chief Operating Officer, Ruben is responsible for ensuring safe and responsible operations, optimising performance, future options and commercial value across Anglo American's portfolio.

Prior to this role, Ruben served as regional director for the Americas, CEO of Base Metals and CEO of Anglo American Brazil.

Ruben joined Anglo American in 2012, and was previously head of mining at Votorantim Metals in Brazil. Between 2009 and 2011, he was COO at Vale Fertilizers and, CEO of Kaolin Companies – Pará Pigments and Cadam – two subsidiaries of Vale, between 2007 and 2009, and held various analysis, marketing and project roles in Vale’s Base Metals business which he joined in 1999.

Ana Sanches

CEO, Brazil

Ana Sanches

CEO, Brazil

Ana has been CEO of Anglo American in Brazil since December 2023, having previously served as CFO of our iron ore and nickel operations in Brazil, and in a global role working for Technical & Sustainability, based in London. Prior to joining Anglo American in 2012, Ana was Controller of operations for Holcim in Brazil, having worked for eight years as an external auditor at Arthur Andersen and Deloitte, responsible for auditing projects in large Brazilian and multinational companies.

Ana has a Batchelor of Economics degree from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Batchelor of Accounting degree from Universidade FUMEC in Belo Hoizonte, and an MBA in Finance from Ibmec in Belo Horizonte.

Our nickel mines

BARRO ALTO - The Barro Alto nickel deposit was discovered in the late 1960s and we completed our purchase of the deposit for $35 million in 2002. We started production at Barro Alto in 2011.

CODEMIN - Our Codemin nickel asset is located in Brazil and produces ferronickel, the majority of which is used in the production of high quality stainless and heat resistant steels..

Contacts

Anglo American in Brazil

NICKEL
Rua Maria Luiza Santiago
200 – 60 andar – Santa Lucia
Belo Horizonte, MG,
Brazil

For sales enquiries, please email: [email protected]