Word: nickels
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Tsvangirai, 56, became accustomed to responsibility at an early age. The son of a carpenter and bricklayer from Gutu, south of the capital, Harare, and the eldest of nine, he quit school early to work the nickel mines of Mashonaland in northern Zimbabwe. In 10 years, he rose from plant operator to general foreman. Under the white government of the time, there was more than one way for a political aspirant to agitate for change. Mugabe fought for freedom; Tsvangirai chose the mine-workers union. In 1980, Mugabe, then 56, inaugurated a free Zimbabwe. Eight years later, Tsvangirai became secretary...
Already the world's largest producer of iron ore and one of the largest producers of nickel, Vale is also a growing force in copper, manganese, bauxite, precious metals, aluminum, coal, steel and energy. Its stock price has more than doubled in the past year, to nearly $33, and the company's market value is about $160 billion, 16 times what it was in 1997. Douglas B. Silver, an industry veteran and CEO of Colorado-based International Royalty Corp., calls Vale "the most effective giant mining company in the world," not just for its size but also for its skill...
Vale's biggest deal came in October 2006 with its $18 billion purchase--in cash--of Inco, a Canadian firm with nickel assets across North America and as far away as the French territorial island of New Caledonia in the Pacific. The acquisition came just before nickel prices nearly tripled. Inco now accounts for about 40% of Vale's revenues, and gained the company important technology and highly skilled personnel. "It was a major step for us," says Tito Martins, executive director for corporate affairs and energy at Vale. More recently, Vale has made a play for Swiss miner Xstrata...
...analyst John Tumazos says Vale's real edge is a willingness to explore the new mining frontier, in developing countries, years before the competition. "Things don't frighten them so much because they are used to ups and downs," Tumazos says. In New Caledonia, for example, Vale inherited a nickel project that had stalled because of concerns from residents. Vale flew some of the locals to the Amazon to show off its environmental stewardship; the project is now on track, along with 29 others in Mongolia, Mozambique, Gabon, Oman and Australia...
Back in New Hampshire, McCain held press conferences after every event, taking questions from reporters more often than he'd rub his lucky nickel. In Iowa, he would talk to scribes for hours on his bus, get off and then 30 minutes later hold an avail. The journalists would look at each other, bemused and defeated, with no questions left...