Rio Tinto Ltd News

Brazil's Vale SA said on Friday that it plans to sell its 11 remaining Valemax iron ore carriers and lease them back in transactions that could raise $1.1 billion. Vale has said it has experienced some delay in selling the ships, the key to its attempt to cut transportation costs between its Brazilian mines and Asian customers, as it seeks to get the best freight rates under contracts to lease the ships back from the new owners. Each more than 360-meter-long (1181-ft-long) ship can carry 380,000 to 400,000 tonnes of ore and are among the biggest vessels afloat. Vale has been selling its part of the world's 35-vessel Valemax fleet for about $110 million each, Luciano Siani, chief financial officer of Rio de Janeiro-based Vale told investors at a conference in London.

Brazilian mining company Vale SA was downgraded late on Thursday by the Standard & Poor's credit-rating agency over concern that a drop in iron ore prices will erode revenue at the world's largest producer of the main steel-making ingredient. New York-based S&P reduced the company's rating to "BBB," the second-lowest investment grade level, from "BBB+." S&P had cut the company's rating to BBB+ in January. A BBB rating means a company has "adequate capacity to meet financial commitments, but (is) more subject to adverse economic conditions" than higher-rated companies, according to the agency. S&P, which took Vale off a "credit watch," said the outlook for Vale's rating was negative.

Coal port shut since Monday night; seven coal ships waiting to leave, ship queue undisclosed. MELBOURNE, April 22 (Reuters) - Australia's Newcastle port, the world's biggest coal export port, has stopped all ship movements due to a cyclonic storm lashing the country's east coast, a port spokeswoman said on Wednesday. "Due to the weather event, no shipping movements occurred yesterday and port operations also paused," the spokeswoman said. Seven coal ships are waiting to leave the port, four from terminals operated by Port Waratah Coal Services and three from a terminal run by Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group (NCIG). The port operators declined to comment on how many coal ships were waiting offshore to pick up their cargoes from the port…

Brazilian miner Vale SA posted a sharp decline in profit from the previous quarter as lower iron ore prices undermined record production of the steel-making ingredient. Vale, the world's largest producer of iron ore, reported second-quarter net income of $1.43 billion, down 43 percent on the previous quarter and below the average analyst estimate of $1.89 billion in a Reuters survey. "It was a very challenging environment where the price of our most important product has dropped by 15 percent," Chief Financial Officer Luciano Siani said in a video accompanying results. Net income was more than three times higher than the year-ago quarter, when a one-time foreign exchange charge slashed profit to $424 million.

The Pilbara Apollo, the latest addition to the RAstar 3200 escort tug series was delivered to its owners, Rio Tinto Ltd., earlier this year. The vessel was constructed at Uzmar Shipbuilding Industry Co. in Turkey and will operate at Rio Tinto’s iron ore export facilities at Cape Lambert (Port Walcott) and Dampier, Australia. The Pilbara Apollo is the first of six new RAstar 3200 tugs to be delivered to Rio Tinto as part of this contract. The tugs will assist very large ore carriers in berthing and un-berthing at exposed, open water berths in severe wind and wave conditions.