Archive | Sudbury Basin

Local 6500 votes for new five-year contract with Vale – by Staff (Sudbury Star – August 3, 2021)

August 4, 2021 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Strike that began June 1 is over

Local 6500 members have strongly endorsed a new five-year collective agreement with Vale.

“The past two months have been challenging for everyone,” said Dino Otranto, Chief Operating Officer, North Atlantic Operations for Vale, in announcing the deal has been ratified. “We are pleased that the company and the union were able to find common ground and a path forward. We look forward to welcoming everyone back.

“Our task now is to position our business to thrive today and for generations to come. We have many opportunities ahead of us, with the growing electric vehicle market. The nickel, copper and cobalt we produce are critical metals to achieving a low carbon future. Continue Reading →

Sudbury Accent: Wolf Lake supporters worry about its future – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – July 31, 2021)

August 4, 2021 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Junior Exploration Sector, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

They want it to become a park, but the area is also home to promising mine exploration

There’s a smoky haze overhead and the remains of an old cabin near our tent. Neither really detracts from this visit to Wolf Lake, arguably still the most scenic location in the Sudbury area, not to mention its most ecologically significant.

In some ways they only enhance the experience. I have never seen a sun so diffuse and orange, for instance, nor do I remotely mind — being a cabin dweller myself — finding traces of a rudimentary abode in the bush.

They do prove, however, that Wolf Lake is not quite so pristine or isolated as one might think, or wish to be the case. It has been inhabited in the past, and it won’t escape an ill wind of the present. Continue Reading →

The Drift: Could the mining industry consider the nuclear option to power remote mines? – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 23, 2021)

July 23, 2021 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Mining Power Issues, Mining Research, Sudbury Basin, Sudbury Laurentian University – Mining Faculties and Research

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Laurentian University research institute studies how small-scale reactors could replace diesel generation in the Far North

Is there a viable marriage between mining and nuclear power? Laurentian University researcher François Caron aims to find out. There are 10 off-grid operating mines in remote areas of Canada, most of them reliant on diesel generation.

That’ll be a no-go in the years to come as the mining industry faces mounting pressure from society, government climate change legislation, even environmentally conscious investors, to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions and carbon footprint.

To be able to power potential mining camps in greenfield areas where grid power doesn’t reach, the nuclear energy option is being increasingly examined. Continue Reading →

Vale, Steelworkers complete two days of talks; more talks planned – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – July 20, 2021)

July 21, 2021 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Labour expert says he’s not surprised Local 6500 members have rejected the company’s contract offers

While no deal has yet been reached between Vale and its striking workers, there is some hope in the air as the two sides resumed talks this week.

“The bargaining teams for both Vale and USW Local 6500 did return to the table Monday with the assistance of a third-party facilitator,” said Danica Pagnutti, corporate affairs specialist with Vale.

“The intent of these discussions is for both parties to seek a path forward that will help in ending the current dispute.” Pagnutti said the talks are expected to continue throughout the week, but Vale will not be commenting on the nature of the discussions out of respect for the process. Continue Reading →

Mining innovation centre wins ‘long-fought battle’ to secure funds – by Colleen Romaniuk (Sudbury Star – July 15, 2021)

July 15, 2021 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Mining Research, Sudbury Basin

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

The pan-Canadian network, headquartered in Sudbury, will fast-track mining innovations for a more productive and sustainable future

After three years of hard work, Sudbury’s mining innovation centre has secured $40 million from the federal government to launch a pan-Canadian mining innovation accelerator.

The investment will help the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) implement a $112.4-million project called the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) Network.

The initiative aims to unite stakeholders across Canada’s innovation ecosystem to accelerate the development and commercialization of new technologies to make the mining sector more productive and sustainable. Continue Reading →

Sudbury to headquarter new mining network – by Staff (Sudbury Star – July 14, 2021)

July 14, 2021 in Canada Mining, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Mining Research, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Details of $112-million project unveiled on Tuesday

Sudbury will be the centre of a new network aiming to make Canada a leader in sustainable, efficient and safe mining, especially when it comes to so-called critical minerals.

François-Philippe Champagne, the federal minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced Tuesday the federal government will kick in $40 million towards a $112.4-million project put together by Sudbury-based CEMI, the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation Inc.

The money will support the creation of the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) Network. MICA is a Canadian initiative bringing together people and companies from a wide range of fields to quicken the development and commercialization of innovative technologies to make the mining sector more productive and sustainable. Continue Reading →

Mining sector accelerator is latest beneficiary of Federal Liberals ‘net zero’ fund – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 13, 2021)

July 13, 2021 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://financialpost.com/

The project is intended to accelerate the mining sector’s development of innovative and clean technology, according to a government source

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne is expected on Tuesday to announce a $40-million contribution from the federal government for a new Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator Network, the Financial Post has learned.

The project is intended to accelerate the mining sector’s development of innovative and clean technology, according to a government source, who requested anonymity because the news was not yet public.

The project, to be administered through the Sudbury, Ont.-based Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation, would be the latest in the past few weeks to receive funding from the federal government’s ‘net zero’ Strategic Innovation Fund, an $8-billion fund meant to help industry decarbonize over the next several years. Continue Reading →

Vale, Steel to head back to table with facilitator – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – July 13, 2021)

July 13, 2021 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury members have been on strike since June 1; two sides looking for compromise

With a strike by Vale workers now entering its seventh week, the company and union have agreed to bring in an outside party to help them find common ground.

“Over the past few days Vale and the United Steelworkers Local 6500 bargaining committees have been exploring a path forward to the resumption of negotiations,” said Danica Pagnutti, corporate affairs specialist with Vale, in a message to The Star.

“On that front, we will be returning to the negotiation table on July 19 and utilizing a third-party facilitator that was jointly selected by Vale and the USW to assist in these conversations.” Continue Reading →

It’s been 50 years since NASA’s Apollo 16 astronauts walked on Sudbury – by Colleen Romaniuk (Sudbury Star – July 9, 2021)

July 9, 2021 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Ontario Mining, Space Mining, Sudbury Basin, Sudbury History

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

They were here to train for their moon mission

This summer marks 50 years since NASA dispatched the Apollo 16 astronauts to Sudbury for field training ahead of their trip to the moon. Commander John Young and pilot Charles Duke, whose spacecraft would launch from Cape Canaveral less than a year later on April 16, 1972, teamed up with experts from Inco to study Sudbury’s impact crater and its unique geological structures.

NASA hoped that the field training, which took place from July 7 to 9, 1971, would prepare the astronauts for lunar surface experiments. It turns out, the excursion didn’t prepare them as much as they’d hoped.

“We were very interested, at the time, in trying to work up the geology of the moon. The great debate in the literature prior to our first moon landing was how much of the moon was formed by volcanic activity and how much of it was formed by impact structures,” said Michael Dence. Continue Reading →

Sudbury Vale Strike impacting battery market – by Staff (Sudbury Star – July 2, 2021)

July 2, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Analyst senses labour dispute could extend for months

A strike at Vale’s Sudbury operations is taxing a nickel market that’s key to powering electric vehicles. The job action by USW Local 6500 is now entering its second month, with no new contract talks planned.

Bloomberg News notes that Sudbury is one of the world’s few producers of nickel pellet, a form used to produce alloys for aerospace, electronic and nuclear industries.

Production at Vale’s northeast Ontario operation halted when unionized workers went on strike on June 1. The disruption is driving consumers to tap battery-grade nickel briquette as an alternative. Continue Reading →

Strike at Vale’s Sudbury Operation Strains Battery Nickel Supply – by Mariana Durao and Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – June 29, 2021)

June 29, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A strike at Vale SA’s Sudbury operations in Canada is taxing a nickel market that’s key to powering electric vehicles.

Sudbury is one of the world’s few producers of nickel pellet, a form used to produce alloys for aerospace, electronic and nuclear industries. Production at Vale’s northeast Ontario operation halted when unionized workers went on strike on June 1. The disruption is driving consumers to tap battery-grade nickel briquette as an alternative.

That shift is increasing competition for briquette, pushing up North American premiums, or extra charges consumers pay on top of nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange, as stockpiles of the metal dwindle. Inventories of briquette, the main form of nickel stored at LME warehouses, have fallen 9% since a peak in April and are now at the lowest in more than a year. Continue Reading →

With nickel reserves running out, Sudbury is an expensive place for Vale to do business – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – June 23, 2021)

June 23, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Vale COO implores striking Steelworkers to help get costs under control, find solutions to keep mining in the Sudbury basin

Vale’s Dino Otranto claims it can’t be business as usual, not when the Sudbury base metal mining operations he oversees “occupy the highest cost position of any mines on the planet.”

With operations at a standstill heading into the fourth week of a strike by Steelworkers Local 6500, Vale’s chief operating officer for its North Atlantic Operations and Asian Refineries took to the web on June 17 for a virtual town hall meeting, spelling out the shape the business in the Sudbury basin and the “tough conversations” that need to take place.

The web event was attended by 956 registered attendees for the sessions. Management only addressed a portion of the 115 questions sent in. “The past is not the recipe to sustain this, moving forward,” Otranto said. “And there is no consultant that’s going to come in and give us the silver bullet. Continue Reading →

Vale, Local 6500 ‘remain apart on important issues’ – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – June 16, 2021)

June 16, 2021 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Clawbacks to benefits and pensions are the main sticking points for Local 6500, union officials said Tuesday — a day after members resoundingly shot down a new offer from Vale.

“Times are good right now in Sudbury — in fact they’re very good,” said Myles Sullivan, assistant to USW District 6 director Marty Warren, during a press conference.

“Now is not a time to be forcing us out on strike, demanding concessions. So yeah, we’re disappointed and frustrated, but ready to roll up our sleeves and get back to the bargaining table. It takes two sides to do that and we’re ready.” Continue Reading →

Sudbury Local 6500 rejects latest offer from Vale – by Staff (Sudbury Star – June 15, 2021)

June 15, 2021 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

A new contract offer from Vale to its striking workers was rejected by a strong margin Monday. Eighty-four per cent of USW Local 6500 members participated in a vote Monday evening, with 87 per cent opposing the revised deal.

The union’s own bargaining team had called the offer “concessionary” and did not recommend it to members. In a release, Vale expressed disappointment that the union had taken this stance.

“The company was in active negotiations with Local 6500 when it was informed of this position,” the miner said. “Vale’s second offer addresses issues of concern that we heard from our employees, including wages, pensions and post-retiree benefits for new hires.” Continue Reading →

Vale’s Otranto says it’s ‘disappointing’ bargaining committee recommends rejecting second offer – by Staff (Sudbury.com – June 14, 2021)

June 14, 2021 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Mining Labour Issues and History – Sudbury and Global, Nickel, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.sudbury.com/

The head of Vale’s North Atlantic Operations said today he’s disappointed the Steelworkers Local 6500 bargaining committee is unanimously recommending striking members reject a second offer from the company.

The union’s bargaining committee announced today it is recommending to its 2,500 members that the new offer be rejected, as it includes “similar take-aways with minimal improvements” over the initial offer.

On June 1, Local 6500 overwhelmingly rejected an initial contract offer, with 70 per cent of members voting against the offer on a voter turnout of 87 per cent. Continue Reading →