Archive | Sudbury Basin

Biosolids rejuvenate mining wasteland: Reclamation project at Vale tailings ponds in Copper Cliff wins award – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – July 13, 2018)

July 13, 2018 in Biomining and Bioremediation, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Green Mining, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

In the decades-long efforts to regreen the Sudbury basin, Vale is reporting its Copper Cliff Tailings Project using biosolids is continuing to be successful. So successful, the groundbreaking project recently won an award and plans are in the works to apply it to other reclamation projects.

The Copper Cliff Tailings Project, a joint effort by Vale and Terrapure’s solutions division, Terratec Environmental, has been running for about five years and continues to show positive and even surprising results.

“We are doing this for two reasons: dust control and covering the area with vegetation for long-term closure plans,” said Glen Watson, superintendent of environment decommissioning and reclamation for Vale Canada. It recently won the Water Environment Association of Ontario’s 2018 Exemplary Biosolids Management Award. Continue Reading →

Vale nets enviro award – by Staff (Sudbury Star – July 9, 2018)

July 9, 2018 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Green Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Vale’s Sudbury Biodiversity Program has been been recognized nationally. Vale received the national Towards Sustainable Mining Environmental Excellence Award from the Mining Association of Canada at an awards gala during the 2018 CIM Convention earlier this year.

“We are proud to be acknowledged for Vale’s biodiversity program in Sudbury,” said Lisa Lanteigne, environment manager for Vale’s Ontario Operations. “The program has been successful because of a sustained commitment to community collaboration and an innovative approach to environmental stewardship. The program exemplifies one of our core company values — Prize Our Planet.”

Vale’s biodiversity work in Sudbury focuses on regreening and reclamation efforts, transforming historically stressed lands and waterways back to their natural states after more than a century of mining activities. To improve biodiversity within the community, Vale undertakes a number of activities, including: Continue Reading →

Mining suppliers say tariffs not dampening Canada-U.S. trade – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – June 28, 2018)

June 29, 2018 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Mining Supply and Services Sector, Sudbury Basin

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Business as usual, but cross-border trade difficulties offer opportunities for Canadian companies to diversify international dealings

Trade tensions between Canada and the United States are not stopping Canadian mining companies from looking south for business opportunities, but they are also looking at markets abroad.

The third annual Northern Ontario Exports Forum in Sudbury on June 27 saw around 200 delegates gather to discuss markets abroad, including Africa, Latin America, Mexico and Europe.

Even though heavy tariffs are being imposed on Canada by the U.S., particularly on steel and aluminium imports, many delegates and speakers said they were concerned, but business is going ahead. Continue Reading →

NEWS RELEASE: Terrapure’s Terratec division awarded for innovative mine reclamation program with Vale Canada

June 25, 2018 in Mining Environmental, Water Shortage and Land Reclamation/Revegetation Issues, Sudbury Basin, Vale

Canada’s leading environmental service provider solves a municipal problem and a mining problem with one, sustainable, cost-saving approach.

BURLINGTON, ONT., June 25, 2018 – Terratec Environmental, a division of leading environmental solutions provider Terrapure, has established a new, sustainable option for managing biosolids during winter months, when farmland application is prohibited and storage is complicated.

Instead of disposing of a nutrient-rich resource through incineration or landfill, Terratec developed a program to apply biosolids to mine-impacted land for reclamation and revegetation. Acknowledging this significant contribution to the field, the Water Environment Association of Ontario (WEAO) presented Terrapure and Vale with the 2018 Exemplary Biosolids Management Award.

“The program is the first of its kind in Ontario, so we’re excited to see that it’s gaining momentum; the mining industry is now identifying biosolids as a key strategy in mine closure scenarios,” said Jeff Newman, Director of Business Development at Terratec. “This approach is a real win-win. Municipalities get an off-season biosolids management alternative, and mining companies get an effective tailings cover system.” Continue Reading →

1984 Falconbridge tragedy still echoes for Sudbury residents, mining community – by Benjamin Aubé (CBC News Sudbury – June 20, 2018)

June 21, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Glencore, Mining Accidents, Deaths, Cave-Ins and Industrial Disease, Sudbury Basin

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Disaster led to 1986 inquiry into mine ground control and emergency preparedness

June 20, 1984, is a day that still resonates in the minds of many Sudbury residents and throughout the mining community. About 200 workers were on shift at Falconbridge Mine that morning. Four of them never got out.

At 10:12 a.m., a seismic event that registered a 3.5 on the Richter scale struck the mine, causing a major rock fall and trapping many of the miners.

Despite rescue attempts over the next several days, Sulo Korpela, Richard Chenier, Daniel Lavallee and Wayne St. Michel each lost their lives. On Wednesday, an annual service commemorating the 34-year anniversary of the tragedy was held at the Mine Mill 598 Unifor Campground at Lake Richard. Continue Reading →

One of Sudbury’s ‘unique’ places disappearing – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – June 15, 2018)

June 15, 2018 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

As Vale erects a pair of new, efficient stacks on its Copper Cliff smelter, it is simultaneously tearing down a huge, abandoned building near Fielding Road that, in its day, also helped to reduce emissions.

The structure housed a few peregrine falcons for a spell, too, but those birds — since relocated to an adjacent chimney — won’t be affected, Vale promises, except in the sense that they will have “front-row seats of the dramatic events from their nearby nesting boxes.”

The roaster kiln building, quite prominent as you drive between Copper Cliff and Lively, “operated from 1955 to the late 1980s as part of Inco’s iron ore recovery plant,” said Danica Pagnutti, with corporate and Indigenous affairs at Vale, in an email to The Star. Decommissioning of the structure is now underway and one corner has already been removed, with the remainder to be taken down gradually over the next few months. Continue Reading →

Sudbury Accent: Sudbury as the ‘Harvard’ of hardrock mining [Part 4 of 5] – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – June 6, 2018)

June 7, 2018 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Glencore, Mining Education and Innovation, Nickel, Nickel Laterites, Ontario Mining, Stan Sudol Columns/Media References and Appearances, Sudbury Basin, Sudbury Laurentian University – Mining Faculties and Research, Vale

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

The Sudbury Basin is Ontario’s metallic equivalent to the Alberta oils sands without the massive open pits as most of the mines historically have been underground. For 135 years, the region’s unique polymetallic ore-bodies have produced nickel, copper and significant quantities of cobalt, gold, silver and platinum group metals (PGMs).

It is the third largest source of PGMs after South Africa and Russia. Many multi-generational families earn good middle-class salaries in the many mines, two mills, two smelters and one refinery. Roughly 30 per cent of provincial mining activity takes place in Sudbury, according to the Ontario Mining Association.

Glencore’s recent C$900 million investment in the development of its Onaping Depth project and Vale’s C$760 million phase one development of its Copper Cliff Deep mine are indications of growing confidence in the future of the region. Continue Reading →

NEWS RELEASE: CLEAN AER PROJECT NEARS COMPLETION AS TWO NEW STACKS EMERGE FROM VALE’S COPPER CLIFF SMELTER COMPLEX

June 6, 2018 in Green Mining, Mining Environmental Accidents, Pollution and Abandoned Mines, Sudbury Basin, Vale

SUDBURY, June 5, 2018 – Residents of Greater Sudbury may have noticed that the plume from Vale’s iconic Superstack has been much less frequent lately and that two new stacks are now emerging from the company’s Copper Cliff Smelter Complex.

Although the Smelter is in full production, a new Wet Gas Cleaning Plant has been commissioned and is capturing process gases and sulphur dioxide emissions previously emitted by the Superstack.

“The commissioning of the Wet Gas Cleaning Plant and construction of two new stacks signals that we are nearing completion of our Clean AER Project,” said Dave Stefanuto, Vice President of North Atlantic Projects and Base Metals Technology. “This historic milestone reflects years of dedicated effort from both our project and operations teams and is something all of us at Vale and in the City of Greater Sudbury can be proud of as we significantly reduce our environmental footprint in the community.” Continue Reading →

What Does Northern Ontario Want From Queen’s Park? – by Stan Sudol (RepublicOfMining.com – May 31, 2018)

May 31, 2018 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Glencore, Nickel, Nickel Laterites, Northern Ontario Politics, Northern Ontario Separation and Alienation, Ontario Mining, Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery, Stan Sudol Columns/Media References and Appearances, Sudbury Basin, Vale

Northern Ontario Being Strangled

On June 7th, the people of Ontario will be going to the polls in one of the most pivotal elections in the province’s history. While Northern Ontario – north of the French and Mattawa Rivers, as I have never recognized the Parry Sound and Muskoka ridings as being part of the North – encompasses roughly 90 per cent of the province’s land mass, its population has been steadily declining to slightly over five per cent of Ontario’s total.

Unfortunately, our impact on provincial policies is almost negligible.

A buck a beer, cheaper gas, tax breaks combined with unaffordable infrastructure and social commitments, twinning the trans-Canada in Northern Ontario, buying back Hydro One, and jumping on a bulldozer to start building the road into the Ring of Fire are part of a bevy of mostly worthy but unsustainable promises Conservative Doug Ford, Liberal Kathleen Wynne and NDP Andrea Horwath have made.

However, I seldom hear any actual policy initiatives to grow the economy and create wealth so we can afford all these election initiatives and perhaps, just perhaps put a little money on our provincial debt which has more than doubled during the past 15 years under the McGuinty/Wynne Liberal era from about $138 billion in 2003/04 to $325 billion currently and growing. By the way, this is the largest sub-national debt in the world and twice as large as California which has a population of almost 40 million. We are paying roughly $1 billion a month to service that debt. That will surely rise when interest rates, which are at historic lows, eventually start going up! Continue Reading →

Vale to transition Creighton deep zone to all-electric fleet – by By Kelsey Rolfe (CIM Magazine – May 2018)

May 25, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

http://magazine.cim.org/en/

Vale will swap old diesel equipment at Creighton for electric, and develop Upper Kelly Lake, Victor projects as fully electric mines

Vale Base Metals is transitioning its Creighton deep zone to an electric vehicle fleet, and designing its future greenfield operations to be all-electric.

As vehicles in Creighton’s deep zone fleet reach the end of their life, they will be replaced with battery-powered vehicles, beginning this year with an explosives loader and three personnel carriers. Next year 11 new pieces of battery-powered equipment will be brought into operation deep underground, Samantha Espley, the general manager of the mining and mineral processing technical excellence centre at Vale Base Metals, told CIM Magazine.

“This trend will continue as we replace old diesel equipment with a new battery-electric fleet,” she said. In addition, its Upper Kelly Lake project, adjacent to the Copper Cliff mine, and its ultra-deep Victor deposit, next to Glencore’s Nickel Rim Deep, are currently being designed as fully electric mines. Continue Reading →

NEWS RELEASE: RICUS GRIMBEEK APPOINTED VALE’S CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER OF CANADA, UK AND ASIAN REFINERIES

May 17, 2018 in Nickel, Sudbury Basin, Vale

May 15, 2018 – Vale today announced Ricus Grimbeek as Chief Operating Officer for Canada, the UK and Asian Refineries; a role based out of Sudbury, Ontario.

“I’m very excited to take on this new role, and am humbled to be leading some of the most historic and prolific mining operations in the world,” said Grimbeek. “I’m also energized by the enormous potential I see in front of us, and look forward to working with our employees, union partners, regulators and local communities to co-create the future I believe to be possible”.

Ricus most recently worked for South 32 – a global mining company – in roles including Chief Technology Officer as well as President and Chief Operating Officer. He has also worked for BHP Billiton and Lonmin in a variety of senior level safety and operational positions in Australia, South Africa and Canada. Continue Reading →

‘Still got lots to do’ in Sudbury’s regreening program, ecologist says (CBC News Sudbury – May 7, 2018)

May 7, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Green Mining, Sudbury Basin, Sudbury Laurentian University – Mining Faculties and Research

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

A program that started in Sudbury in 1978 is still being recognized on the international level. Forty years ago, the City of Greater Sudbury launched the regreening program, which has transformed the city from desolate black rocks to green trees.

In 2018, CBC Sudbury is celebrating its 40th anniversary of going on air. We’ll be looking back at some of our top stories from the last four decades. Peter Beckett, a restoration ecologist and chair of the regreening advisory panel, was no stranger to industrial areas when he first arrived in Sudbury in 1974. He came from England to visit the city.

“I actually thought I’d gone back to some of the barren areas of South Wales,” he said. “There were no trees. There was a rocky hillside with large pebbles.” He relocated to Sudbury and remembers the year the program was put into place. Continue Reading →

Samantha Espley: Sudbury miner named head of Canadian Institute of Mining council – Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 30, 2018)

May 3, 2018 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Sudbury Basin, Vale, Women in Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Samantha Espley has been named the incoming president of the Presidents Council for the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) for the 2020-2021 year. Espley is the director of Vale’s Technical Excellence Centre of Mining and Mineral Processing in Sudbury.

“I feel honoured to be asked to lead CIM. It’s an amazing feeling,” Espley said in an April 25 news release. “A big question now is how the Canadian mining industry can stay competitive in the global industry. I think CIM can play a major role in that, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Espley, who has more than 25 years in the industry, is a board member of MIRARCO and the Canada Mining Innovation Council and a past member of the executive board of Engineers Canada, Science North, and the Sudbury branches of Women in Science and Engineering and Professional Engineers Ontario. Continue Reading →

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