Vale said London-based certification company Intertek Group had lent independent third-party limited assurance to the carbon footprint of nickel rounds produced at Long Harbour in Newfoundland.

Long Harbour rounds had a carbon footprint of 4.4 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per tonne of nickel in 2020, compared with the Nickel Institute average for Class 1 nickel of 13t CO2 equivalent and 45t for Class 2, Vale said.

"The low-carbon footprint of our Long Harbour rounds positions Vale well in the growing electric vehicle industry, in North America and beyond," base metals executive VP Mark Travers said.

"Customers in this fast-growing market want high-purity, responsibly sourced nickel, and Vale is ready to supply it."

Vale last week pledged to boost its investment up to US$6 billion to cut Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 33% by 2030 and Scope 3 emissions 15% by 2035, part of efforts to reach net zero by 2050.

Long Harbour began operations in 2014 and processes material from Voisey's Bay.

It uses hydrometallurgy rather than pyrometallurgy to produce nickel, meaning no smelters and no smoke stacks, Vale said.

Its shares (BZ: VALE3) closed up 1% yesterday to BRL72.32 but remain near a one-year low, valuing Vale at BRL354 billion (US$62 billion).

Vale's profits halved in the September quarter, due to lower iron ore prices and production misses plus the US$2 billion impairment of its coal business.