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Brazilian miner Vale signs $500M palm oil deal in the Amazon

Posted on June 24, 2009

Vale, the world's largest miner of iron ore, has signed a $500 million joint venture with Biopalma da Amazonia to produce 160,000 metric tons of palm oil-based biodiesel per year, reports Reuters. Vale says the deal will save $150 million in fuel costs starting in 2014, with palm oil biodiesel replacing up to 20 percent of diesel consumption in the company's northern operations. The biodiesel will be produced from oil palm plantations in the Amazon state of Par . The move is likely to stir up criticism from environmentalists that fear palm oil production could soon become a major driver of d...

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