Vale – Page 27 – Republic of Mining

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

May 25, 2018

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.

Vale Boss Prefers Giving Away Windfall to Avoid Sins of the Past – by R.T. Watson and Joseph Richter (Bloomberg News – May 18, 2018)

May 18, 2018

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA, once the most generous dividend payer among major mining companies, may be poised to regain that status with its chief executive officer nearing debt targets and unwilling to hoard cash or rush into deals.

Like others in the industry, the biggest producer of iron ore and nickel cut dividends to defend against a commodity downturn that eroded profit and pushed up debt metrics.

With prices recovering as supply gluts ease, producers are once again rewarding shareholders. In March, Vale approved a plan to begin paying at least 30 percent of earnings before items minus sustaining investments. For the first quarter, that meant $1 billion.

BHP Billiton to be sued by investors over dam collapse that caused Brazil’s worst ever environmental disaster – by Ben Chapman (Independent – May 16, 2018)

May 17, 2018

https://www.independent.co.uk/

BHP Billiton faces legal action from shareholders who say the mining giant misled them over safety measures at a dam in Brazil which broke, killing 19 people and causing Brazil’s worst ever environmental disaster.

When the Fundão dam broke in 2015, waste from an iron ore mine operated by Samarco, a joint venture between BHP and its partner Vale, devastated the local area in Minas Gerais state.

A red wave of clay, sand and water polluted miles of river, killing aquatic life, leaving hundreds of people homeless, and flowing out to sea. Australian law firm Phi Finney McDonald now plans to sue the multinational, which is listed on stock markets in London, Sydney and Johannesburg, on behalf of investors.

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

May 17, 2018

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.

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

May 3, 2018

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.

Vale not happy with nickel prices – by Staff (Sudbury Star – April 30, 2018)

April 30, 2018

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Vale officials say they have confidence in the nickel market in the long run, but for now they aren’t happy with the metal’s prices. In December, Vale dialed back nickel output forecasts for the next five years even as it praised the metal’s future prospects.

Last week, Reuters reported Vale was curbing base metal production to boost returns, though the world’s biggest nickel producer hopes the area will one day represent a greater part of earnings.

Vale executives said they hoped to find a partner for the struggling New Caledonia nickel mine by the end of the year, but it was not clear whether the world’s largest nickel producer would continue nickel operations there, Reuters said.

UPDATE 2-Vale eyes $1 bln in dividends each quarter this year (Reuters U.K. – April 26, 2018)

April 27, 2018

https://uk.reuters.com/

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 26 (Reuters) – Vale SA, the world’s top iron ore producer, expects iron ore prices no lower than $70 per tonne this year and will hand out $1 billion in dividends each quarter this year if conditions remain similar ahead, executives said on Thursday.

The dividend policy “was constructed to work in any price scenario. That means this policy is here to stay,” Chief Executive Officer Fabio Schvartsman said on a conference call, adding that a $1 billion dividend payout was already guaranteed for the second quarter.

The comments came a day after Vale reported a first-quarter slide in profit of 36 percent on higher costs and lower iron ore prices. Vale still promised a minimum payout of $1 billion in dividends for the quarter to be paid later this year.

BATTERY MATERIALS CONF: Nickel intermediates can fill class one supply gap – Vale – by Charlotte Radford (Metal Bulletin.com – April 26, 2018)

April 26, 2018

https://www.metalbulletin.com/

Nickel intermediates could provide the most cost-effective means of bringing on-stream additional class one nickel units to serve the growing battery market, according to Frank Nikolic, head of base metals intelligence at Vale.

Nickel demand from the battery sector could increase to 1.8 million tonnes by 2030 from 700,000 tonnes by 2025, according to Vale’s upside forecast. Its more conservative forecast suggests demand of 350,000 tonnes in 2025 and of 1 million tonnes by 2030.

“Can the nickel market respond to such massive demand drivers? Look at intermediates – it’s something that is going to serve the market,” Nikolic said at Metal Bulletin’s inaugural Battery Materials conference in Shanghai last week.

Layoff notices sent to 169 Vale employees in Thompson, Man. (CBC News Manitoba – April 25, 2018)

April 26, 2018

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

Vale is entering its “most significant phase” of layoffs in the lead up to the planned shut down of the company’s smelting and refining operations in Thompson, Man., later this summer. The company has sent layoff notices to 169 employees, said Ryan Land, manager of corporate affairs and organizational development with Vale.

Vale has been planning to stop nickel smelting and refining in Thompson for years, and the operations will officially cease July 31, the same day the layoffs are to take effect.

Vale plans to continue its mining and milling operations in Thompson, which had a population of just under 13,000 people in 2016. The city is 650 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

Brazilian shuffle: Canpotex opens Sao Paulo office as Vale exits fertilizer industry – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – April 23, 2018)

April 23, 2018

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

As Brazil’s largest mining company exits the fertilizer industry, Canada’s leading potash exporter is ramping up its operations in South America’s largest agricultural market.

Canpotex Ltd., the Saskatoon-based company that sells potash from 10 Saskatchewan mines to farmers around the world, is expected to announce the opening of its first office in Brazil on Monday.

In an interview, Canpotex chief executive Ken Steitz said expanding its sales effort in Brazil is part of a $1-billion investment to better position the Canadian company as a dominant fertilizer supplier to a country that’s expected to lead the world in food production over the next three decades.

Production ramping up again at Sudbury Vale’s Coleman Mine – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – April 11, 2018)

April 11, 2018

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Spring may still seem postponed, but work has finally resumed at Coleman Mine in Levack. Operations were suspended before Christmas for repairs to an underground ventilation compartment, idling many workers on temporary layoff.

That was initially supposed to last just a month or two; instead, the shutdown dragged on nearly five months. Now, however, it’s business as usual at the Vale facility.

“The entire workforce is back at the mine working on regular shifts,” said Angie Robson, manager of corporate and aboriginal affairs, in a message to The Star. She said employees were called back in mid-March for training and crews are now “performing value-added work in the orebodies, with production ramping up later this week.”

Al Chislett, co-discoverer of Voisey’s Bay, dies at 69 (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – April 9, 2018)

April 9, 2018

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

Originally from Heart’s Delight-Islington, Chislett died of cancer

Al Chislett, the co-discoverer of the massive Voisey’s Bay nickel deposit in northern Labrador, has died in St. John’s at the age of 69.

Chislett, who with Christopher Verbiski discovered Voisey’s Bay in 1993, had been battling cancer. Before he died, he had been receiving care at the Miller Centre in St. John’s. He was originally from Heart’s Content-Islington but later lived in Conception Bay South.

The nickel deposit at Voisey’s Bay proved to be one of Canada’s most substantial mineral discoveries. The two men, who co-owned prospecting company Archean Resources, found the deposit while working for Diamond Fields Resources Ltd., which was later acquired by Inco Ltd.

Demolition of Sudbury iron ore plant to be complete by year’s end, says Vale – by Arron Pickard (Northern Ontario Business – March 26, 2018)

March 26, 2018

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Going green has many benefits, especially when it results in significant cost savings ranging in the millions. Vale will save about $6 million by recycling most of the scrap metal that will be left over once the Copper Cliff iron ore recovery plant is demolished.

The original price tag was just over $8 million, but the contractor who will demolish the facility will take the scrap metal for recycling purposes, cutting the cost down to just over $2 million, said Angie Robson, spokesperson for Vale.

Demolition work began in August 2017 and it will be completed by the end of this year, she said. The plant operated from the mid-1950s until the mid-1980s.