Vale to spend $150M to extend life of Thompson mining operation – by James Snell (Sudbury Star – August 3, 2021)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Vale Canada Limited has announced a $150 million infrastructure investment to extend the life of its Thompson mining operation by 10 years. The company is also carrying out aggressive exploration drilling to potentially extend the mine’s life beyond 2040.

The $150 million will cover phase one of the Thompson mine expansion, Vale said in a statement. Phase one includes infrastructure development – ventilation raises and fans, increased backfill capacity and additional power distribution that will allow the company to mine deeper and longer.

Phase one could increase production by 30 per cent. The company plans to access lower portions of its primary ore body in phase two.

“The bigger prize, if we are successful in doing so, is it’ll set the stage for further investment that can really make the mine last well into the 2040s,” Cory McPhee a corporate affairs spokesperson with Vale said during a phone interview.

“We know there’s ore down there, we just have to get to it. But at the same time, to make the business case even stronger, we are drilling to a degree that we haven’t drilled in the past.

For the rest of this article: https://www.thesudburystar.com/news/local-news/vale-to-spent-150m-to-extend-life-of-thompson-mining-operation