The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Brazilian iron-ore giant Vale SA is shelving its plans to do an initial public offering of its critical-minerals subsidiary Vale Base Metals amid political pushback in Brazil over the country potentially losing control over strategic mining assets. A triple-bylined item led by Niall McGee says London-based VBM was carved out internally from its parent in 2023, ahead of an eventual IPO, and it has a separate management and investor relations. VBM holds Vale's global portfolio of copper, nickel and cobalt operations, which are spread across Canada, Brazil, Japan, Britain and Indonesia. The company bought its Canadian nickel assets from Inco in 2006 for $19.4-billion. As recently as March, Vale said the IPO was still in the cards. Marcelo Bacci, Vale SA's chief financial officer, said the transaction could come later this year. Part of the reason for pulling the transaction is that the Brazilian government wasn't on board. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is known for being an economic nationalist, and he wanted Vale to retain control of VBM, whose portfolio includes large copper mines in the country. VBM has its global operations centre in Toronto.