Brazil’s Vale buys 51 per cent stake in BSG Resources for $2.5 billion

Brazil's Vale, the world's second largest miner after BHP Billiton, has acquired a 51-per  cent stake in Israel's BSG Resources for $2.5 billion, which is likely to torpedo the $1.35-billion Rio Tinto-Chinalco joint venture for the $12-billion Simandou iron ore-project in Guinea.

In a securities filing today, the Rio de Janeiro-based Vale with 2009 revenues of $28.6 billion, said that it has taken a 51-per cent stake in BSG Resources, a privately-owned mining company owned by Israeli billionaire diamond merchant Beny Steinmetz.

Vale said that by acquiring the stake in BSG Resoureces, it would get access to the Simandou iron ore concession, including a mine and several exploratory licenses.