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Vale returns to profit, eyes ‘dramatic opportunity’ for nickel – by Staff (Mining Journal – March 2, 2021)

https://www.mining-journal.com/

Adjusted EDITDA rose 20% to $4.2 billion, after $4.8 billion in expenses of which $3.9 billion was related to the R37.7 billion (US$7 billion) Brumadinho settlement reached in January.

Vale’s ferrous minerals division achieved its second largest adjusted EBITDA of $8.8 billion, thanks to a 17% rise in realised prices and 26% higher sales volumes compared with the third quarter.

It put its iron ore fines and pellets C1 cash cost ex-third party purchases up slightly, quarter-on-quarter, at $12.70/t, while the cash cost (ex-ROM, ex-royalties) FOB was $15.30/t.

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Vale to Pay $7 Billion for One of Worst Ever Mine Disasters – by James Attwood (Yahoo Finance/Bloomberg – February 4, 2021)

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) — Vale SA reached a settlement agreement with Brazilian authorities for a dam collapse that killed 270 people and led to production cutbacks that stripped the company of the title of world’s biggest iron ore producer.

The deal comes two years after the Brumadinho disaster, giving affected communities a clear framework for compensation and reparations and removing a considerable legal overhang for Vale. Its shares were little changed in Sao Paulo.

Vale will pay 37.7 billion reais ($7.03 billion) including cash payments to affected people and investments in environmental projects, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in a statement. Vale estimates it will book an additional expense of 19.8 billion reais in 2020 results.

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Scrap metal company must pay for buying stolen nickel worth millions, Manitoba judge rules – by Cameron MacLean (CBC News Manitoba – February 1, 2021)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/

A Manitoba metal recycling company is on the hook after buying hundreds of thousands of pounds of stolen nickel worth millions of dollars, a judge ruled.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Shauna McCarthy awarded mining company Vale Canada Ltd. a summary judgment against Urbanmine, Inc., which purchased and resold 483,396 pounds of nickel stolen from a compound in Thompson, Man., over the course of nearly 10 months between July 2012 and May 2013.

In her decision on Aug. 27, 2020, McCarthy also awarded Vale a default judgment against the Schwartz Bros. construction company and a number of its employees, all but one of whom pled guilty to criminal charges related to the thefts and were ordered to pay restitution.

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Brumadinho dam collapse could have been predicted weeks in advance – study – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – January 24, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

The dam collapse at Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) Córrego do Feijão mining complex in Brazil, which killed almost 300 people two years ago, could have been foreseen with the right monitoring technology.

This is according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Nottingham and Durham University, who collaborated with Terra Motion and discovered that by applying satellite radar imaging InSAR to check for small ground movements in and around dams, it is possible to predict a dam burst.

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Vale confirms multiple seismic events at Creighton Mine – by Jay Baxter and Marina Moore (CTV Northern Ontario – January 16, 2021)

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

SUDBURY — Earthquakes Canada has confirmed least two earthquakes in the Sudbury-area overnight originated from Creighton Mine.

Greater Sudbury lit-up social media Friday night to affirm the earthquakes that were felt by residents in the city’s south-end, Copper Cliff, Chelmsford, Valley, Flour Mill and New Sudbury areas.

In a media statement issued late Saturday morning, Vale confirmed multiple seismic events took place at the mine in the late evening hours of Jan. 15.

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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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