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NEWS RELEASE: VALE TO DEMOLISH STOBIE MINE NUMBER NINE SHAFT THIS WEEK

Sudbury Blast from Concrete Pictures on Vimeo.

Video Release December 10, 2020

SUDBURY, December 8, 2020 – Vale’s iconic Number Nine Shaft at Stobie Mine will safely come down this week. This activity follows the careful demolition of two other shafts at the site last week and a number of buildings at the site earlier this year.

“Number Nine Shaft is a concrete structure that is 95 metres high so it must be blasted down instead of dismantled,” said Patrick Boitumelo, Head of Mining & Milling for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations. “This demolition work has been carefully planned with a team of internal and external experts and is not expected to impact the community.”

Residences and businesses in close proximity to the mine site may hear or feel minor activity related to the demolition of the Number Nine shaft this week. Construction noise and dust mitigation will be in effect. For safety reasons, the public is asked to stay away from the construction site. No public access to the demolition site will be permitted.

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Iron Ore Is This Year’s Hottest Commodity on China-Fueled Surge – by Annie Lee and Krystal Chia (Bloomberg News – December 10. 2020)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A surge in demand in China, the world’s key growth engine, risks a shortage of iron ore that’s pushed prices past $150 a ton and crowned it this year’s best-performing major commodity.

Futures in Singapore have surged almost 70% this year, hitting their highest since trading started in 2013, as China’s stimulus-led rebound fuels steel output and consumption.

The rally received an added boost from Vale SA’s cut to annual production guidance last week, while the first quarter is likely to bring elevated risks of weather disruptions for southern hemisphere producers.

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A low-carbon future means a big demand for key minerals. Can N.L.’s mines cash in? – by Lindsay Bird (CBC News Newfoundland & Labrador – December 6, 2020)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

As automakers unveil electric vehicle after electric vehicle, and innovation surges around solar panels and other renewable energies, an industry with a long history in Newfoundland and Labrador hopes to position itself to supply more of the materials needed for the green transition.

“It’s a very opportune time for the province. Mining is essential for a low-carbon future,” said Ed Moriarity, the executive director of Mining Industry NL, the province’s industry association.

Not every ore is created equal in the eyes of innovators, as demand focuses on extracting what are sometimes termed “critical minerals,” sometimes labelled “strategic” ones.

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NEWS RELEASE: 2020 Vale / USW Edgar Burton Christmas Food Drive Kicks-Off

SUDBURY, November 18, 2020 – The Edgar Burton Christmas Food Drive kicked off today in Vale’s Sudbury Operations and with an open invitation to the community to participate and contribute to this important campaign in support of the Sudbury Food Bank.

This year’s organizers turned their minds to how to safely run the beloved Sudbury holiday giving campaign amidst COVID-19, but Edgar’s unwavering commitment to supporting the community’s most vulnerable remains their inspiration, now more than ever.

Local businesses and organizations are encouraged to participate, either by collecting food donations or online financial donations. While organizers appreciate that contactless donations may be preferable and are certainly appreciated during this unprecedented year, they continue to graciously accept food donations from local businesses and organizations who have been such an important driver behind the food drive’s longstanding success. COVID-19 protocols have been put in place to ensure that volunteers and participant safety remains the top priority throughout the campaign.

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Brazil’s Vale to avoid driving down global iron ore market – by Dominic Ellis (Mining Global – November 11, 2020)

https://www.miningglobal.com/

Brazilian miner Vale SA will place caution before capacity as it seeks to avoid driving down the iron ore market and presses forward with its recovery from a deadly dam break in 2019.

Speaking at an interview during the Reuters Commodity Trading Summit, Luciano Siani, chief financial officer for Vale, says that the miner is prepared to raise its capacity using safer and less polluting methods to 450 million tonnes in about five years – almost 50 percent more than forecast production for 2020.

“We are going to be responsible and we are not going to overflow the markets with iron ore,” he adds, asserting that the miner would not use full capacity if an expected surge in manufacturing-driven Asian demand does not materialise.

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UK court blocks lawsuit against BHP over Brazil dam burst – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 9, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

The High Court of Manchester, northwestern England, blocked on Monday a £5 billion ($6.6bn) lawsuit against BHP over a devastating dam collapse at an iron ore mine in Brazil in 2015, which killed 19 people and became the worst environmental disaster in the country’s history.

The suit, filed last year by 235,000 Brazilian people and groups including indigenous tribes and the Catholic Church, claims the world’s no. 1 miner was “woefully negligent” in the run-up to the Samarco dam failure.

The claimants were seeking compensation for physical and psychological injury, property damage, moving costs, loss of earnings, loss of water supply and lost fishing income.

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Smaller workforce, technology and higher output part of plan to lower unit costs: Vale mine manager – by Ian Graham (Thompson Citizen – November 5, 2020)

https://www.thompsoncitizen.net/

Franco Cazzola, general manager of Vale’s Manitoba Operations, made a virtual presentation to members of the Thompson Chamber of Commerce Nov. 4 about recent job cuts and additional upcoming changes intended to make the company’s mine and mill here more competitive.

Now on his third stint as a Thompson resident – he also lived here in the mid-1960s and later from 2005 to 2009 as an employee of Inco and then Vale – Cazzola said 103 layoffs and position eliminations as well as 41 early retirements announced last month were only the first step in an effort to reduce production costs, though he admitted they were the most painful one.

“We’ve just started our journey and the first part was the workforce reduction unfortunately and it affects people and families in the community,” he said, noting that the workforce now includes about 489 hourly employees and 610 employees overall, nearly 700 less than before the smelter and refinery shut down in 2018 and Birchtree Mine was put on care and maintenance the previous year.

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Elimination of nearly 150 jobs at Vale a ‘punch in the stomach for Thompson’ – by Ian Graham (Thompson Citizen – October 29, 2020)

https://www.thompsoncitizen.net/

Vale Manitoba Operations is down to about half as many employees in Thompson as it had three years ago after a comprehensive review of the division led to the elimination of 144 jobs.

Job losses resulting from review, announced back in June, when the company said it was losing $300,000 per day from its operations in Thompson, included 75 unionized hurly employees being laid off and another 25 taking early retirement packages, while 28 staff positions were eliminated and 16 staff employees opted for early retirement.

“These decisions have not been made lightly, and we recognize the significant impact they have on our employees, our businesses and the local community,” said Tara Ritchie of the company’s corporate and Indigenous affairs department in an Oct. 29 email.

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NEWS RELEASE: VALE TO DEMOLISH STOBIE MINE HEADFRAMES & BUILDINGS (October 13, 2020)

Photo Credit: Concrete Pictures Inc.

SUDBURY, October 13, 2020 – After more than 100 years of operation, the iconic headframes and other buildings at Vale’s Stobie Mine site will be demolished over the next few months. The demolition follows Stobie Mine operations being placed on care and maintenance in 2017.

“The aging headframes are being demolished to reduce maintenance costs and pave the way for potential new development currently being studied at the Stobie Mine site,” said Patrick Boitumelo, Head of Mining & Milling for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations.

This work will be completed between mid-October and mid-December, with all three headframes at Stobie Mine demolished. Shafts Seven and Eight will be dismantled by carefully removing pieces of the headframes from the top down starting October 13th. The Nine Shaft will be safely blasted down the week of November 9th. Some buildings at the site such as the crusher plant, mill and hoist building have already been removed with a few more also scheduled for demolition.

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The Sudbury model: How one of the world’s major polluters went green – by Sara Miller Llana (The Christian Science Monitor – September 24, 2020)

https://www.csmonitor.com/

When the Superstack was constructed in 1972, it was the tallest structure in Canada – and the tallest smokestack in the world. At 1,250 feet, it’s visible from every vantage point in the area. It can be seen from the bustling streets of downtown to the quiet cul-de-sacs of residential neighborhoods. It looms large in the distance from highways that feed into a city that is home to one of the largest mining complexes in the world.

Built by Canadian company Inco before it was purchased by Vale, the Superstack has long stood as a reminder of the environmental devastation that mining wrought here. But this year the chimney is being fully decommissioned.

Residents of Sudbury harbor mixed feelings about the Superstack. Some see it as a memorial to their rise as a center of nickel and copper mining globally. Others see it simply as a familiar landmark that signals they are home. Gisele Lavigne lives in the Copper Cliff neighborhood at the Superstack’s base.

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Two new smaller stacks are ready, decommissioning of Sudbury’s Superstack about to begin – by Molly Frommer (CTV News Northern Ontario – September 10, 2020)

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

SUDBURY — Two new, 450-foot stacks are now fully installed and ready to replace the famous Superstack that has been in Sudbury for decades.

The $450 million project began in 2014, and managers with Vale say it was a companion effort to the Clean Atmospheric Emissions Reduction Project (AER).

“That Clean AER project was run in parallel to the service facilities upgrade,” said Darryl Cooke, Vale surface project and studies senior manager. “That was a billion-dollar project for atmospheric emissions reduction.”

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Vale’s Divestment Collapse Underscores Nickel-Mining Challenges – by James Attwood and Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – September 2020)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — In the clearest sign yet of the challenges to nickel mining in New Caledonia, a would-be buyer failed to put together a deal that would have seen it paid to acquire a major asset.

New Century Resources Ltd. said Tuesday it was unable to generate a funding package and equity structure that “adequately accommodates a suitable risk/reward scenario” to acquire the Goro operations from Vale SA.

Vale’s response was equally telling. The Rio de Janeiro-based said it would prepare to mothball Goro while exploring other options, all of which would “contemplate Vale’s exit.”

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Slow process of demolition to start on Vale’s Superstack – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – July 29, 2020)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

July 28 decommissioning of the structure makes way for first stage of multi-year project

With the news that Vale’s Superstack is no longer operational, the nickel giant is now poised to start the demolition process on the 50-year-old structure.

On July 28, the company announced it had decommissioned the 1,250-foot (381-metre) stack at its Copper Cliff Complex in Sudbury during a period of regular maintenance.

In the broader context, taking the stack out of service represents a landmark moment of the environmental progress for Vale (formerly INCO) and the mining industry as a whole.

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NEWS RELEASE: VALE COMPLETES TIE-INS OF NEW STACKS (July 28, 2020)

Signals Completion of Superstack Being Taken Out of Service

SUDBURY, July 28, 2020 – Vale has completed the final tie-in of the flue systems to the new 450’ (137 metre) Stacks and took its Copper Stack out of service at the Copper Cliff Smelter Complex during its planned maintenance period this month. With these project milestones achieved, Vale can complete the process of taking the Superstack out of service.

“Completing this process of taking the Superstack completely out of service is symbolic of Vale’s evolution towards reducing our environmental footprint with innovative and more sustainable Smelter operations ” said Dino Otranto, Chief Operating Officer for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations and Asian Refineries.

The two smaller and more efficient stacks will require far less energy to operate than the Superstack, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Vale’s Copper Cliff Smelter by approximately 40%. At the same time, Vale’s Clean AER Project will reduce particulate emissions by 40% and dramatically reduce SO2 emissions by 85%.

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New Century, Vale delay nickel mine deal – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 28, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

New Century Resources (ASX: NCZ) and Vale (NYSE: VALE) have delayed the deadline for closing the sale of the Brazilian miner’s nickel and cobalt operations on the Pacific island of New Caledonia by 45 days.

The Australian zinc producer entered into a 60-day exclusivity agreement to acquire a 95% stake in Vale Nouvelle Calédonie (VNC), the operator of the troubled Goro nickel-cobalt mine on the French territory, on May 26.

New Century said on Thursday it had made “significant progress” in evaluating the technical and commercial aspects of the transaction, but has not yet finished a definitive binding agreement.

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