Mining firm Inco has announced that its shareholders have agreed to the company becoming a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD).

The agreement, which will see Inco become known as CVRD Inco, will also result in the company amalgamating with Itabira Canada.

Before the agreement of the shareholders, CVRD had held a controlling 87.8 per cent stake in Inco, but will now take full control of the Canadian mining giant with immediate effect.

CVRD will now become the largest producer of nickel in the world and will also see its platinum production increase, as Inco had been the number two nickel producer and produced considerable amounts of platinum as a by-product of its main nickel operations.

"I think everything will be completed probably by the end of this month or early in February. Everything is on schedule," CVRD-Inco's Chief Executive, Scott Hand, told Reuters.

Ÿ Adfero Ltd