(Reuters) – Vale SA, the chief executive of Brazil’s iron ore miner Vale SA (NYSE) stated on Thursday that the company is no longer looking at a spinoff of its base metals division. This was a long-standing goal of the company.

“We’re not yet talking about a spun off. As part of the Financial Times Mining Summit, Eduardo Bartolometo was Vale’s Chief Operating Officer.

These remarks seem to reaffirm a long-standing plan to sell this unit. This was even being thought about as recently as April. Although the original plan had been created in 2014 and was postponed to 2015 before the idea was finally abandoned,

Bartolometo claimed that the main problem was its value. The business generates $3.5 billion annually, which would place a high-value sale value on the business.

Vale is one of the largest iron ore miners in the world. In 2019, he still has to deal with the effects of a dam’s burst, which claimed the lives of 270 people.

Apart from the loss of lives, environmental damage and fines, as well as complicated legal proceedings, that were initiated against its top executives; the incident had a negative impact on the company’s market value.

Bartolometo stated that the stock is perceived as risky. However, he added that Vale had done his homework. It’s no longer a risky stock.