Brazil's mining giant Vale will list its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the world's leading iron ore producer announced Thursday.

The decision to list its shares in Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) offers direct access to the Asian capital market," the fastest growing market in the world," the company stated.

The listing process still depends on the approval of capital markets regulatory agencies. Its approval is expected to be concluded by the end of 2010.

Vale also announced that its board of directors had approved to buy back up to $2 billion of shares, involving up to 64,810,513 common shares and up to 98,367,748 preferred shares. The repurchase will be carried out over the next six months.