Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared that the country’s companies must follow the concept of development adopted by the government, a statement read as a reprimand to Vale’s CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo, whose term in office will expire May 26, 2024.
According to Lula da Silva, Vale has many unexplored mines, selling some of these assets and losing the competition to its Australian peers.
The president also questioned the policy of indemnification for the disaster of the Brumadinho dam five years ago, which is in his view unconcluded.
The government has unsuccessfully tried to suggest the former minister Guido Mantega as CEO of Vale, having subsequently suggested former Vale CEO Murilo Ferreira, although both candidates were rejected by the board of the company.
Now the alternatives for the succession are the permanence of Bartolomeo, possibly for a shorter term, and Paulo Cafarelli, a former president of Banco do Brasil.
More recently, the name of Luiz Henrique Guimarães, a former CEO of Cosan, one of the main shareholders of Vale, was also mentioned among the possibilities for the position.