Onça Puma
VITSL
VINL
Growth Capital
Sustaining Capital
Organic Growth
SUB Plan
US GAAP
EBITDA
CFROGI (Cash flow return on gross investment)
TSR (Total shareholder return)
Operating Earnings
Net Earnings
Depreciation and Amortization
Revenue
Onça Puma
Onça Puma is a greenfield nickel project in Para state in northern Brazil. The project will have a nominal production capacity of 58,000 metric tons per year of nickel in ferronickel form, its final product. Start-up expected in the second half of 2010.
VITSL
Vale Inco Technical Services Limited (VITSL) is Vale Inco’s research and technology laboratory located in Mississauga, Ontario. VITSL provides technical and analytical support through product and process research related to Vale Inco’s various extractive and reduction processes. In recent years, VITSL has played a key role in development and commissioning support for the Goro laterite project, the Voisey’s Bay mini-plant and major upgrades at Sudbury, Thompson and PT Inco operations.
VINL
Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador (VINL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vale Inco, comprised of the nickel-copper-cobalt deposits north of Goose Bay in Labrador and the commercial processing plant being built in Long Harbour, Newfoundland. The processing facility is due to open in 2013.
Growth Capital
The term ‘growth capital’ refers to an investment of dollars funded through Vale corporate to expand or restructure operations. Examples of growth capital projects are Totten Mine in Sudbury and the Goro laterite project in New Caledonia.
Sustaining Capital
The term ‘sustaining capital’ refers to an investment of dollars funded through Vale corporate to maintain and sustain current operations. It is essentially capital funding to keep “day to day” operations running with no increase in production or growth. Examples of sustaining capital are underground development and furnace rebuilds.
Organic Growth
The term ‘organic growth’ refers to growing existing operations through activities such as exploration, opening new mine headings or maximizing the flow of metal through the flowsheet; rather than growing by merger or acquisition.
SUB Plan
The Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB) Plans are government-registered programs, paid by Vale Inco, that provide a benefit in addition to Employment Insurance (EI) benefits for eligible employees.
US GAAP
In the US, generally accepted accounting principles, commonly abbreviated as US GAAP, are accounting rules used to prepare, present and report financial statements for a wide variety of entities, including publicly-traded and privately-held companies, non-profit organizations, and governments. GAAP comprises a widely accepted set of rules, conventions, standards, and procedures for reporting financial information, as established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.
EBITDA
EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization. It is an indicator of a company’s financial performance, which is calculated in the following EBITDA calculation:
EBITDA = Revenue – Expenses (excluding tax, interest, depreciation and amortization)
EBITDA can be used to analyze and compare profitability between companies and industries because it eliminates the effects of financing and accounting decisions.
CFROGI (Cash flow return on gross investment)
Cash flow return on gross investment (CFROGI) is a measure of profitability in a given period. It indicates the efficiency of the Vale Group’s ability to use assets to create value. The calculation is operational cash flow divided by assets capital base.
TSR (Total shareholder return)
Based on a given time period, the percentage calculated by dividing (a) by (b) below:
- The sum of the Vale share price at the end of the period plus dividends earned and reinvested over the period.
- The share price at the start of the period.
Operating Earnings
An indicator of a company’s profitability, operating earnings are calculated as revenue minus expenses, excluding tax and interest.
Net Earnings
Net earnings typically refer to the amount of profit that a company realizes during a specific period, usually defined by a quarter (three calendar months) or a year. Earnings typically refer to after-tax net income.
Depreciation and Amortization
Represents the annual change to earnings of a portion of the capital cost to physical plant/mine/ore body access and, where applicable, infrastructure, and the acquisition cost of ore reserves.
The cost of an asset is a prepaid operating expense to be apportioned among the years of its life by a systematic procedure. It is cost, not market value, that is apportioned.
Revenue
The amount of money that a company actually earns during a specific period, including discounts and deductions for returned products. It is the “top line” or “gross income” figure from which costs are subtracted to determine net earnings. Revenue is calculated by multiplying the price at which goods are sold by the number of units or amount sold.