By Inti Landauro
PARIS--Veolia Environnement (VIE.FR), the world's largest water
and waste collection utility, seeks to double the revenue it gets
from treating water and waste for the mining and metal industries
by 2020.
Veolia already provides water treatment for many of the world's
largest mines, Chief Executive Officer Antoine Frerot told
reporters in a presentation Tuesday. Mining operations are often
located in faraway areas where water is scarce and the risk of
pollution is high, he said.
The French company earned 700 million euros ($966 million) in
revenue from the business in 2013 and expects to more than double
it by 2020 to EUR1.5 billion, Mr. Frerot said. Veolia's overall
revenue was EUR22.31 billion in 2013.
The mining and metal industry is the second-most water-thirsty
in the world, he said. The expansion in that field is part of the
company's focus on servicing industrial customers instead of
delivering water and sewage services to cities and towns.
The world's largest waste and water company by revenue has been
bitterly hit by the economic crisis which has cut its long term
financing while calling into question some of its most profitable
waste and water contracts in Europe. This forced the utility to
rethink its businesses and its geographical exposure, cutting it to
40 countries, selling businesses in the U.K. and the U.S. and
cutting jobs.
Beside servicing mining companies, the company plans to
diversify into other businesses, such as the decommissioning and
recycling of oil rigs and nuclear power plants.
Veolia forecasts that the global market for water and waste
collection services for the mining and metals industry will expand
to annual revenue of EUR20, up from between EUR13 billion and EUR14
billion now.
Mining giants such as Brazil's Vale SA (VALE), Australia's BHP
Billiton (RIO) or Canada's Barrick Gold Corp (ABX) are increasingly
turning to companies such as Veolia to lower the negative impact on
the environment and lessen the opposition by local communities, who
sometimes oppose these projects. Additionally, by recovering and
treating waste, Veolia ultimately can extract minerals that would
otherwise be thrown away and ultimately generate increased profit
for the mines.
Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com