This restructuring marks the first major change under CEO Shaun Usmar, who joined Vale Base Metals in October. Credit: SERGIO V S RANGEL/Shutterstock.

Vale Base Metals, the base metals division of Brazilian mining company Vale, is undergoing a restructuring that will involve the dismissal of numerous managers, reported Mining.com, citing Bloomberg.

The initiative aims to streamline the company’s corporate structure and bolster its operational performance.

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The job cuts are part of a strategic move to simplify the company’s organisation and delegate more decision-making authority to its operational teams. This information comes from sources who chose to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of internal discussions.

This restructuring represents the first substantial change under the leadership of Shaun Usmar, who assumed the role of CEO for Vale Base Metals in October.

Usmar, an industry expert, has set objectives to enhance production and control costs across the company’s nickel and copper operations in Canada, Brazil and Indonesia.

Some employees and the United Steelworkers Local 6500, a union representing Vale’s Canadian nickel workers, were notified of the ‘managerial reorganisation’ earlier this month, as stated by the union’s vice-president Raymond Hammond.

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The union is closely monitoring the situation to gauge the full impact of these changes on its members.

“We were informed there is a managerial reorganisation that will involve layoffs at the senior level,” added Hammond.

Hammond stated that Steelworkers union members are not impacted.

In June, Vale announced plans to invest $3.3bn (19.81bn reais) over four years to boost copper and nickel production in Brazil and Canada. The investment focuses on increasing copper capacity to 500,000 tonnes by 2028, driven by expansions at Brazil’s Salobo and Sossego mines.

Earlier this month, the company began commissioning the Capanema iron core project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.