Vale signs long-term nickel supply deal with Tesla
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Vale (NYSE:VALE) said Friday it signed a long-term contract to supply Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) with nickel, one of the raw materials that is vital to make the kind of batteries used in most electric vehicles.
Under the deal, Tesla (TSLA) will purchase nickel from Vale's (VALE) mines in Canada, which produced 76K metric tons of nickel last year; financial details are not provided.
Vale (VALE), the world's biggest producer of nickel and iron ore, said the agreement is part of its plan to increase sales of its low-carbon, high-purity nickel to the electric car market.
The company's operations include Sudbury - one of the largest integrated mining complexes in the world - and the Thompson mine in Manitoba, which has 5M metric tons of untapped nickel that Vale wants to exploit through new processing technology.
Vale (VALE) recently reported its Q1 iron ore production fell 6% from a year ago and 22.5% compared to Q4 2021.