2.0.0.10 false Other expenses 0217 - Disclosure - Other expenses true false false false 1 usd $ false false USD Standard http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 0 USDEPS Divide http://www.xbrl.org/2003/iso4217 USD iso4217 http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance shares xbrli 0 2 Other expenses [Abstract] 0 us-gaap_OtherExpensesAbstract us-gaap true na duration string No definition available. false false false false false true false false false false false false 1 false false false false 0 0 false false false No definition available. false 3 Other expenses 1 vale_OtherExpensesTextBlock vale false na duration string Operating expenditures that is not closely related to cost of sales, selling, general, administrative, and miscellaneous... false false false false false false false false false false false verboselabel false 1 false false false false 0 0 <!--DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd" --> <!-- Begin Block Tagged Note 17 - vale:OtherExpensesTextBlock--> <div style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> <div style="margin-top: 6pt"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="font-size: 10pt; text-align: left"> <tr valign="top" style="font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; background: transparent"> <td width="3%" nowrap="nowrap" align="left"><b>17</b></td> <td width="1%">&#160;</td> <td><b>Other expenses</b></td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="margin-top: 6pt"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="font-size: 10pt; text-align: left"> <tr valign="top" style="font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; background: transparent"> <td width="3%" nowrap="nowrap" align="left">&#160;</td> <td width="1%">&#160;</td> <td>The line &#8220;Other operating expenses&#8221; totaled US $538 in March&#160;31, 2010, mostly due to pre operational expenses and idle capacity and stoppage operations which comprised US $78 and US $210 respectively.</td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> <!--DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd" --> <!-- Begin Block Tagged Note false false false Operating expenditures that is not closely related to cost of sales, selling, general, administrative, and miscellaneous revenues. No authoritative reference available. false false 1 2 false UnKnown UnKnown UnKnown false true