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Who we are
We are Vale Base Metals, a standalone company driven by sustainable mining
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What we do
What we do
We produce high-quality copper, nickel and cobalt for a low-carbon future.
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ESG
ESG
Learn about the pillars that guide our strategy and get to know our plan to eliminate main ESG gaps
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Chief Executive Officer
Shaun Usmar
Shaun Usmar joined Vale Base Metals in October, 2024, as CEO, focused on driving growth and unlocking the full value of the Vale Base Metals business. Shaun is an international mining executive with over 30 years of global experience in operational, financial, and executive leadership roles across some of the world’s largest mining companies. He has served in senior leadership roles at Barrick Gold, Xstrata, BHP Billiton, and most recently was the founder and CEO of Triple Flag Precious Metals, a role that he held for eight years. He has served as a director on several boards, including Peabody Energy, Triple Flag and the World Gold Council, and is currently a non-executive director of Alamos Gold.
Since 2010, Shaun has worked as a senior volunteer with Make-A-Wish Canada and currently serves as the National Board Chair, driven by his passion for making a meaningful impact in the lives of children facing critical illnesses.
Shaun holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Metallurgy and Materials from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Shaun holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Metallurgy and Materials from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Chief Operating Officer
Alfredo Santana
Alfredo Santana joined the Vale Base Metal’s North Atlantic Operations team in February 2022 as Chief Operating Officer overseeing mining operations in Canada, UK and Japan which includes seven underground mines, three mills, one smelter and five refineries. Alfredo began his career at Vale in 2005 as a trainee and has since held a variety of roles. Prior to joining the North Atlantic team, he held the role of COO of Vale’s Base Metals South Atlantic Operations. He also served as Head of the largest iron ore pelletizing complex in the world and Head of Railroad EFVM, both located in Vitória, Brazil, as well as CEO of Nacala Operations in Mozambique.
Alfredo holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Fundação Dom Cabral, a post-graduate in Railway Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais as well as a Civil Engineering degree from the Federal University of Viçosa.
Photographer: Arindam Banerjee
Chief Human Resources Officer
Nara Souza
Nara Sousa is interim Chief Human Resources Officer responsible for managing all aspects of human resources for Vale Base Metals including strategy, culture, talent management, and compensation. She joined the company in 2015 and served as Head of Total Rewards & HR Solutions and Head of Global Organizational Design & Effectiveness prior to taking on her current role.
Nara has nearly 20 years of human resources management experience. Prior to joining Vale Base Metals, she worked as a Senior Associate at Mercer and as a Human Resources Business Partner at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. Nara holds an Executive MBA in Program Leadership Development from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sao Paulo.
Photographer: Arindam Banerjee
Chief Technical Officer
Christopher McCleave
Christopher McCleave is Chief Technical Officer responsible for driving the extraction and asset management strategy for Vale Base Metals as well as the company’s low-carbon and circular mining agenda. Anglo American, based in South Africa. He joined Anglo American in January 2021, and was then seconded from Anglo American’s Technical and Sustainability function to the role of Executive Head of Technical and Operational Excellence at Anglo American Platinum. Prior to that he worked for Glencore and Rio Tinto.
Christopher graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Mining at the University of South Australia in 2001. He further augmented his qualification with an MBA from Deakin University in 2010, Australia, and an International Masters for Practicing Managers at the Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, Canada, in 2018.
Photographer: Arindam Banerjee
Chief Technology Officer
Luke Mahoney
Luke Mahony is the Chief Technical Officer (interim), Vale’s Global Base Metals. Prior to this role Luke was the Head of Technology & Innovation including leading the Low Carbon Agenda for Vale Base Metals. Prior moving to Canada in 2019, Luke was the Technical Executive for Vale’s Coal Business based in Mozambique for 5 years leading the Exploration, Planning and Engineering group.
Prior to working for Vale, he worked 10 years for BHP in various managerial roles covering technical, operational and financial leadership positions. Luke holds three Masters’ Degrees in Mining Engineering, Geomechanics and Finance, a Bachelor of Engineering in Mining Engineering plus other Executive and Technical statutory qualifications.
Photographer: Arindam Banerjee
Chief Commercial Officer
Tina Gauthier
Tina Gauthier is the Chief Commercial Officer of Vale Base Metals. Tina joined Vale in 2021 as the Head of Nickel Sales West, overseeing the team and commercial relationships for nickel and cobalt sales across Europe, the Americas, India, and the Middle East.
Before joining Vale, Tina was Vice-President of Sales & Marketing at Sherritt International Corporation, where she led the global strategy for sales of nickel, cobalt, fertilizers, and sulfuric acid.
Tina has also served as Vice Chairperson of the Board of the Cobalt Institute and was the first female Chairperson for the Board of Directors of the Nickel Institute. She currently chairs the Nickel Committee of the London Metal Exchange and represents Vale on the Executive Committee of the Nickel Institute and the Board of Directors of the International Copper Association.
Tina has also served as Vice Chairperson of the Board of the Cobalt Institute and was the first female Chairperson for the Board of Directors of the Nickel Institute. She currently chairs the Nickel Committee of the London Metal Exchange and represents Vale on the Executive Committee of the Nickel Institute and the Board of Directors of the International Copper Association.
Photographer: Arindam Banerjee
Chief Human Resources Officer
Sebastian Garside
Sebastian is a versatile Senior HR Executive and Business Partner with considerable senior management experience across oil and gas, mining, engineering, and professional services industries. He recently joined Vale, bringing the solid business acumen and pragmatic thinking needed to drive the success and culture of global organizations.
Sebastian is skilled in developing, implementing and managing worldwide human capital programs, talent operations and people strategies to deliver key resourcing needs across geographical, legal and cultural boundaries.
Photographer: Arindam Banerjee
Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer
Emily Olson
Emily Olson is Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer of Vale Base Metals. Previously, she worked as Vice-President, Global Strategic Relations at Freeport-McMoRan, responsible for driving global strategic initiatives inclusive of governments, partners, and various external organizations.
Prior to joining Freeport, Emily spent nearly 15 years with BP in both the US and London, most recently as Senior Vice President for Europe and Russia managing BP’s corporate interests across the regions. She has a degree in Political Science from Loyola University of Chicago and a Masters’ Degree in International Strategy & Diplomacy from the London School of Economics.
Photographer: Arindam Banerjee
Chief Legal & Governance Officer
Peter Brady
Peter joined Vale from McCarthy Tétrault where he was a partner and co-head of the firm’s National Environmental, Regulatory & Aboriginal Group. Before re-joining McCarthy Tétrault in 2014, Peter worked for several years in-house, as Deputy General Counsel for a multinational mining corporation. Having both external and in-house legal counsel experience has given Peter a client-centric perspective and the ability to analyze issues, weigh and balance risk and contribute to major business decisions.
Peter has advised and represented clients in all legal aspects of regulatory litigation, with a particular emphasis in mining law and environmental law. He has advised clients with regards to obtaining permits, environmental assessments, contaminated sites and, capital and resource project.
Photographer: Arindam Banerjee
Photographer: Vale's Archive
Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors is responsible for defining the company’s general policies and guidelines, analyzing plans and projects proposed by the Executive Committee and evaluating results.
The board will meet ordinarily every month and extraordinarily whenever convened by its chairman, vice chairman or two other members. Its decisions require a quorum representing the majority of members and they are made by majority vote.
Emily Olson is Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer of Vale Base Metals. Previously, she worked as Vice-President, Global Strategic Relations at Freeport-McMoRan, responsible for driving global strategic initiatives inclusive of governments, partners, and various external organizations.
Read about all our board members
Robert (Rob) Willetts is the Director Governance and Corporate Secretary for the Vale Base Metals group. In this role, Rob has responsibility for all aspects of Vale Base Metals’ corporate governance, legal/regulatory compliance, board and committee administration and shareholder relations matters. Prior to this role Rob held progressively senior leadership positions within Vale Base Metals Legal, including most recently Head of Legal, Corporate, Assistant General Counsel, Asia Pacific & Africa, Chief Legal Officer, North Atlantic Operations, and Deputy General Counsel & Assistant Secretary. Before joining Vale in 2007, Rob spent 7 years in private practice at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Toronto, Canada and Gide Loyrette Nouel in Paris, France where he advised domestic and foreign financial institutions, multilaterals and corporates on secured and cross-border financings and the development of large-scale public infrastructure projects.
Rob has deep experience in complex corporate financing, commercial and international M&A transactions in the mining sector, as well as solid acumen in corporate governance and administration. Rob holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Guelph and a Bachelor of Common Law from the University of Ottawa.
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Mark Cutifani is a Director and Executive Business Advisor after retiring from Anglo American plc. in April 2022. He has more than 46 years of experience in the mining industry in various parts of the world, covering a broad range of products. He was previously the Chief Executive Officer of AngloGold Ashanti Limited. Before joining AngloGold Ashanti, Mr. Cutifani held senior executive positions with Inco and Vale, the Normandy Group, Sons of Gwalia, Western Mining Corporation, Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines and CRA (Rio Tinto).
Mr. Cutifani has a degree in Mining Engineering (with honors) from the University of Wollongong in Australia. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in the United Kingdom. Mr. Cutifani received an honorary doctorate from the University of Wollongong in Australia in 2013 and an honorary doctorate from Laurentian University in Canada in 2016.
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Jerome Guillen spent his career in the automotive industry. At Tesla, he oversaw massive growth between 2010 and 2021. There, Jerome led various critical areas, such as engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, service, and program management, culminating as president of Automotive. Prior, Jerome spent 8 years at Daimler, first leading the development of a new Class 8 truck for the North American market. He then created and led the Business Innovation department for the group.
Mr. Guillen has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and started his career at McKinsey & Co. A French citizen, he is a US permanent resident and lives in the Bay Area, where he is involved in various causes, including the board of the San Francisco Symphony.
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Gustavo Pimenta is Executive Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations at Vale, He previously worked at AES, for three years as global CFO. In addition to his roles as CFO in Brazil and abroad, he has already taken on roles as Planning and Strategy Director and Vice President of Performance and Services of the same company. He led AES's global repositioning to a company focused on ESG and low carbon footprint and also participated in Diversity and Inclusion initiatives within the group.
Earlier in his career, he worked as an Auditor at KPMG for three years and subsequently took over as Vice President of Strategy and M&A at Citibank in New York. He also is a member of several Boards of Directors of companies such as AES Gener in Chile and AES Clean Energy in the USA, he holds a degree in Economics from Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and a Master's degree in Finance and Economics from Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV).
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Eduardo Bartolomeo is a senior executive with solid experience in integrated bulk commodities operations, supply chain and business turnaround. In his professional career, he has stood out for his competence in leading complex operations and establishing a culture of operational excellence. Health, safety, efficiency and productivity are the focus of his tenure as CEO of Vale, a position he has held since 2019. Before taking up his current post, Bartolomeo was Executive Director of Base Metals in Canada in 2018.
As Vale's CEO, he has prioritized people, safety and repair in Brumadinho. Mr. Bartolomeo introduced two new strategic pillars for the company (Safety and Operational Excellence and New Pact with Society) and began implementing a cultural transformation as part of a journey to make Vale one of the safest and most reliable mining companies in the world.
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Marina Quental is Vale’s People Executive Vice President. She is responsible for the global human resources strategy and operations for the company and leads the Board’s People Committee. One of her main challenges is to drive culture and organization transformation for Vale. Before joining Vale, Ms. Quental was the Vice President for Human Resources at Raízen, a joint venture between Shell and Cosan, from April 2014 to November 2017. She participated actively in the creation of this joint venture. Previously, she was the Human Resource director of Shell Brasil for six years and before that held various leadership positions at IBM in Brazil and the United States.
Ms. Quental was president of the Raízen Foundation, the company’s social responsibility arm, between April 2014 and November 2017. She has an undergraduate degree in psychology from Rio de Janeiro Catholic University and an executive Master of Business from the Dom Cabral Foundation.
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Douglas Upton was a partner at The Capital Group, one of the world’s leading asset managers, from August 2004 to December 2022. He served as a specialist investor in the metals and mining industry and developed a deep understanding of all major mining companies, their markets, customers and key strategic challenges. A critical element of his work has been a focus on the structural and cyclical issues within the Chinese economy. More recently the energy transition has been an additional focus.
Prior to The Capital Group he served as an analyst at JP Morgan Asset Management (1999-2004), also focused on the metals and mining industry. And prior to that he spent two years with HSBC Investment Bank as Head of Commodities Research.
Before joining the finance industry he worked with Western Mining Corporation (1989-1997) in various financial, commercial, planning and business development functions. He also spent four years (1991-1995) working as a geophysicist with Hosking Geophysical.
He has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Physics, and an MBA, both from the University of Western Australia.
Prior to The Capital Group he served as an analyst at JP Morgan Asset Management (1999-2004), also focused on the metals and mining industry. And prior to that he spent two years with HSBC Investment Bank as Head of Commodities Research.
Before joining the finance industry he worked with Western Mining Corporation (1989-1997) in various financial, commercial, planning and business development functions. He also spent four years (1991-1995) working as a geophysicist with Hosking Geophysical.
He has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Physics, and an MBA, both from the University of Western Australia.
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