Brazil's mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) announced on Thursday that its investment budget for 2007 was revised to 7.35 billion U.S. dollars, up from the 6.33 billion announced in January.

According to the revised budget, 5.35 billion dollars will be invested in organic growth, of which 4.9 billion will be channeled into projects and 452 million into research and development. The cost of maintaining existing operations is estimated at 1.99 billion dollars.

The CVRD also said that 3.12 billion dollars will be spent in non-ferrous minerals, representing 42.5 percent of the total budget.

In addition, 1.869 billion dollars will be channeled into the ferrous minerals business, while 885 million will be used in the aluminum division, and 784 million dollars in logistics.

The CVRD attributed the revisal of the budget to the average price of currencies, due to the appreciation of Brazil's real against the U.S. dollars, as well as about 500 million dollars' increase in investing in nickel operations.