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Memory Lane: When the Inco Club was the heart of the community – by Jason Marcon (Sudbury.com – September 13, 2023)

https://www.sudbury.com/

For nearly five decades, the Inco Employees Club served as a hub for community, entertainment and more in the city’s downtown core

If a person turns off Elm Street onto Frood Road in downtown Sudbury, they will very quickly come across our city’s nod to the Art Deco form. A grey building that appears triangular at first (not unlike the downtown’s other flatiron buildings) but behind that street-level facade lies an expansive facility that served the community’s needs for nearly 50 years.

Let us now step through its front doors and back in time to immerse ourselves in a little bit of the history as well as some of the special events that were held within the hallowed walls of the Inco Employees Club.

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Conference Board forecasts nickel demand will lift all sectors of Sudbury’s economy – by Kate Rutherford (CBC News Sudbury – August 9, 2023)

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

An economist says Sudbury’s recovery is on the way but won’t reach pre-pandemic levels until 2026

Nickel prices and rising demand for the mineral will help Sudbury’s local economy ride out a slowing national economy and carry it to pre-pandemic prosperity by 2026. In its most recent report, the Conference Board of Canada says nickel prices jumped nearly 72 percent between 2020 and 2022 buoyed by the war in Ukraine and strengthening nickel demand.

Senior economist Rob Wiebe says it’s precisely that demand and heightened exploration for nickel to produce batteries for electric cars that will fuel investment across different sectors in the city.

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Massive deal with Saudis will help Vale fund nickel, other mining projects – by Darren MacDonald (CTV News Northern Ontairo – July 31, 2023)

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

Vale Base Metals (VBM) Ltd. has signed deals worth $3.4 billion with two Saudi Arabian-owned entities as the company works to develop its base metals operations as a separate entity. The agreement will help Vale fund billions of capital projects in the base metals unit planned across its global holdings. The base metals unit is focused on increasing production of minerals needed for the conversion of the auto industry from gas-powered to electric vehicles.

“This strategic partnership will fast-track VBM’s expected US $25-$30 billion capital program over the next decade,” Vale said on its website in announcing the agreement.

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Vale Base Metals confirms partial sell-off to Saudis and the US – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – July 29, 2023)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Analysts say deal is part of a Vale strategy to grow value of its nickel and copper holdings ahead of electric vehicle demand .

Vale has confirmed it is selling off part of its newly formed Vale Base Metals unit in two separate agreements.

Ten per cent of the company going to Saudi Arabia’s Mining Co (Ma’aden) and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), and three per cent being sold to U.S. investment firm Engine No. 1. The entire deal is valued at $3.4 billion according to a report from Reuters.

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The Mining World Turns to Saudi Cash for Critical Metal Supply – by Thomas Biesheuvel and Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – July 30, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A $2.6 billion deal announced last week has set the stage for a potentially landmark shift in the metal and mining investment landscape: the arrival of Saudi Arabia as a pivotal player. The agreement with Vale SA gives the kingdom a 10% slice in one of the world’s crucial suppliers of nickel and copper — essential metals needed to decarbonize.

It’s also held other talks, including with Barrick Gold Corp. about investing in a big Pakistan copper mine, according to people familiar with the matter. Speaking privately, executives at top miners said the value of Thursday’s deal made clear that the Saudis are ready to splash cash around.

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Vale Base Metals preparing to sell part of the company to Saudis – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – July 26, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Reports say Vale poised to sell 10 per cent stake with nickel and copper production on the rise

International and Sudbury nickel miner Vale is ready to sell off 10 per cent of its base metals division to Saudi Arabia, according to reports in the business media.

The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and BNN Bloomberg have reported that the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) is regarded as the leading bidder to acquire a stake in Vale SA’s multibillion-dollar nickel and copper operations. Vale Base Metals is headquartered in Toronto, and is one of the world’s largest producers of responsibly sourced nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals, said the company website.

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BHP and Vale square off in London court – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 12, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

BHP (ASX: BHP) and Vale (NYSE: VALE) faced off in a London court on Wednesday as part of one of the largest class action lawsuits in history, which could see them fined £36 billion ($44bn) for their role in a mining disaster in Brazil that killed 19 people.

The case, brought to trial by around 720,000 Brazilians, centres on who should accept legal and financial responsibility over the deadly 2015 collapse of a dam. The incident at the iron ore mine, owned by BHP and Vale’s joint venture Samarco, became the country’s worst ever environmental disaster.

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Former Sudbury mining leader is back on board with Vale – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – July 7, 2023)

https://www.sudbury.com/

The appointment of Mark Cutifani as chair of the newly formed Energy Transition Metals Board with Vale Base Metals takes effect this month

A well-known former Sudbury mining executive is back in the news and is taking on a new role as chair of the newly formed Energy Transition Metals Board with Vale Base Metals, which calls itself one of the world’s largest producers of responsibly-sourced nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals.

Mark Cutifani was previously chief operating officer (COO) at CVRD Inco, but he left Sudbury in 2007 to become chief executive officer (CEO) of AngloGold Ashanti, and then became CEO of mining giant Anglo American, one of the largest mining companies on the planet.

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Saudi’s PIF emerges as lead bidder for $2.5 billion Vale base metals stake – by Staff (Mining.com – June 20, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is leading the bid to acquire a $2.5 billion stake in Vale’s nickel and copper operations, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

The report said PIF might strike the deal for a roughly 10% stake through a joint venture it set up in January with Ma’aden, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

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Vale Sudbury opens door on its high-tech operations centre – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – June 22, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Hundreds of residents attend open house to see what the future holds for Sudbury’s largest mining company

Hundreds of Sudbury residents got a close-up look June 20 at how the largest mining and refining company in Sudbury is moving forward with new technology. The event was the annual Vale community open house, an event that had been cancelled for a couple of years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The venue was Vale’s North Atlantic operations headquarters building in Copper Cliff, also known as the former engineering building.

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Honouring Sudbury’s fallen miners: ‘It’s a big price to pay for a pound of nickel’ – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – June 20, 2023)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Health and safety in the mining industry in Greater Sudbury has come a long way over the past 95 years, so much, in fact, that where fatal mining accidents were once commonplace, they are now a rarity, according to a retired electrician at Falconbridge Limited.

“Since 1929, 100 men lost their lives,” Tom Rannelli said at the 39th-annual Workers’ Memorial Day service held at the Royal Canadian Legion branch in Falconbridge on Tuesday. “That’s approximately one a year. That’s just at Falconbridge.

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Green energy tax credits a ‘game changer’ for N.L. operation, Vale CEO says – by Alex Kennedy (CBC News Newfoundland-Labrador – April 5, 2023)

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

Chrystia Freeland touts new budget’s incentives at nickel processing plant

The head of mining giant Vale Canada says the most recent federal budget will be a “game changer” for her company’s operations — including its nickel processing plant in Long Harbour, N.L., which Chrystia Freeland, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, toured on Wednesday.

Vale Canada president and CEO Deshnee Naidoo said the credits and announcements in the budget will be key for the mining industry’s race to lower carbon emissions even further. “It’s an absolute game changer for us,” Naidoo said.

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Ford signs nickel smelter deal with Vale Indonesia, Huayou (Nikkei Asia – March 31, 2023)

https://asia.nikkei.com/

Equity investments are part of $4.5bn development of Sulawesi block

JAKARTA — Ford Motor has signed a definitive agreement with the Indonesian unit of Brazilian mining giant Vale and Chinese battery materials producer Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt for joint investments in a nickel smelter project in Indonesia.

The three companies are making equity investments in the development of a high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) plant in Pomalaa Block, Vale’s nickel mining and processing complex on the southeastern part of Sulawesi island that broke ground in November. Vale earlier said that investments are estimated to reach up to 67.5 trillion rupiah ($4.5 billion) to develop the block’s mining operations and refinery.

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Reflections on the Inco Superstack – by Jonathan Migneault (CBC News Sudbury – March 14, 2023)

Stan Sudol PhotoStan Sudol Photo

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/

Built in 1972 to clean up Sudbury’s environment and decommissioned in 2020, Canada’s onetime tallest freestanding structure is still standing

For Matteo Campagnaro, working on the Inco Superstack — Canada’s tallest structure for a brief time — was a pleasure. Campagnaro, who immigrated to Canada from Italy in 1965, said his time on the Superstack, from 1969 to 1972, made him fall in love with northern Ontario.

“The hunting, the lakes, the fish, the atmosphere, the outdoors, the friendly people — this is the best place in the world,” he said. Thanks to his job as a welder, he met his wife in Sudbury. They have two children and a grandson, and still live in Sudbury’s south end.

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Government touts Manitoba as mining-friendly province at mineral industry conference – by Ian Graham (Thompson Citizen – March 10, 2023)

https://www.thompsoncitizen.net/

Province is giving $3.5 million in various grants to mining, Indigenous and economic development organizations as well as to companies conducting mineral exploration in the province.

Manitoba’s government touted its credentials as a mining-focused and mining-friendly jurisdiction in the first week of March, sending a delegation to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto and announcing mineral-related funding for various organizations and companies.

Economic Development Minister Jeff Wharton said in a March 6 press release that Manitoba’s representatives at the conference, which attracted more than 1,100 visitors, 2,500 investors and 23,000 attendees, would be holding discussions and meetings with industry stakeholders and also distributing technical and marketing materials to conference participants.

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