The board of Brazilian mining giant Vale do Rio Doce ( RIO), or CVRD, has approved an automatic dividend reinvestment plan for its shareholders, the company said Thursday.

"This plan will allow investors to automatically reinvest shareholder remuneration in the company's shares," Vale said in a note.

The new mechanism of reinvestment can be used by all shareholders, in Brazil and abroad, beginning from the date of payment of the second tranche of the minimum dividend for 2005, which is scheduled for October 31.

The company did not unveil more detail about its new program, saying that it will disclose more information about the plan soon, which will explain shareholders how they should proceed in order to benefit from the use of this facility.

CVRD is Brazil's top exporter and in the second quarter 2005 had the biggest profit among privately owned companies in the country, trailing only state-run oil firm Petrobras SA (PBR) in earnings. CVRD in the second-quarter more than doubled its net profit to 3.479 billion reals ($1=BRL2.428), its biggest quarterly profit ever.