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NEWS RELEASE: VALE STATEMENT REGARDING CORONER’S INQUEST INTO FATALITIES AT STOBIE MINE

SUDBURY, April 17, 2015 — On Monday, April 20, a coroner’s inquest begins at the Sudbury Courthouse into the June 2011 deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram at Vale’s Stobie Mine. The purpose of the inquest is to review the circumstances around the deaths in hopes that similar deaths can be prevented in the future.

The deaths of Jason and Jordan continue to sadden our operations and our community. Revisiting events of June 2011 will be difficult for everyone involved. There will be a lot of testimony during the course of the inquest and it will be emotional for many, but will be hardest on the Fram and Chenier families. While we cannot turn back the clock, we hope the families find some comfort in the significant work done since that night to ensure this kind of tragedy never occurs again.

Following our own internal investigation into this incident, a plan of action, including more than 40 recommendations, was put in place to address the contributing factors and improve control measures to protect the health and safety of our employees.

We believe this work, coupled with the recent recommendations from the provincial Mining Health, Safety & Prevention Review, will help ensure that Vale and mining companies across Ontario become safer places to work.

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UPDATE 1-Apart from Big 3, iron ore miners face ‘existential’ threat – Goldman – by Manolo Serapio Jr (Reuters U.S. – April 16, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

SINGAPORE, April 16 (Reuters) – Up to half of iron ore output by miners outside the three mega producers in Australia and Brazil is at risk of closure with global demand set to peak at about 1.4 billion tonnes next year, Goldman Sachs said.

Production volumes among top miners – Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton – was not at risk, the bank said. “However, the rest of the industry is now facing an existential challenge,” Goldman analysts Christian Lelong and Amber Cai said in a report.

“We expect seaborne iron ore demand to peak in 2016 as the displacement of marginal Chinese iron ore production fails to offset a contraction in domestic steel consumption,” they said.

Separately, Moody’s Investors Service said supply reductions were dwarfed by planned increases estimated to exceed 300 million tonnes over the next several years.

Goldman cut its 2015 iron ore price estimate by 18 percent to $52 a tonne. It forecast $44 in 2016 and $40 in 2017 and 2018, down 29-33 percent from previous estimates. The price could drop to $40 this year and next, based on Moody’s estimates.

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Fram pleased with mining review recommendations – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 15, 2015)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The mother of one of two men whose deaths four years ago in a Vale mine sparked a review to improve mine safety is pleased with 18 recommendations and says they will make working underground less hazardous.

Wendy Fram’s son, Jordan, 26, and coworker Jason Chenier, 35, were killed June 8, 2011, by a run of muck at the 3,000-foot level of Vale’s Stobie Mine. One of the issues identified in investigations as leading to the men’s deaths was excess water in the century-old mine.

That issue was squarely addressed in the final report of the Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review, presented in Sudbury this morning by Labour Minister Kevin Flynn and Ontario chief prevention officer George Gritziotis.

Gritziotis chaired the review, whose advisory committee was comprised of individuals from industry and labour. Fram served as a special advisor to the committee on the review that was established in December 2013.

Key recommendations in the report are to enhance ground control protection by identifying key elements to managing those hazards and require employers to maintain a record of significant seismic events.

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NEWS RELEASE: VALE ENDORSES MINING HEALTH, SAFETY & PREVENTION REVIEW FINAL REPORT

SUDBURY, April 15, 2015 – Vale today released the following statement regarding the Mining Health, Safety & Prevention Review Final Report that was released to the public this morning.

“Vale would like to express its full support for the Final Report of the Mining Health, Safety & Prevention Review, and the process that was initiated by the provincial government last year. We applaud Minister Kevin Flynn and Chief Prevention Officer, George Gritziotis, for their open and collaborative approach to this process.

The opportunity to participate fully through the activities of the working groups, particularly in the areas of health and safety hazards and the ability of the occupational health and safety system to meet the needs of the mining sector — was as an opportunity we welcomed and took very seriously. We believe that the recommendations that have been put forward in the report will assist Vale and all companies within Ontario’s mining sector in becoming safer places to work.

We look forward to continuing to work with government, our labour partners and industry to implement the recommendations and to continue to work towards our common goal of achieving zero harm in our mines and plants.

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Kelly Strong leaving Vale [Sudbury] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 14, 2015)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Kelly Strong, Vale’s vice-president of Canada and UK operations, has tendered his resignation to the Brazil-based miner. Vale Sudbury spokeswoman Angie Robson said Tuesday afternoon that Strong has made a decision to leave the company May 1 to pursue another opportunity.

“After almost 14 years with our operations, Kelly has made substantial contributions in the areas of operations, employee engagement and safety, and we wish him all the best,” said Robson in an email.

Conor Spollen, director of Canada and UK Operations and Projects, will assume Strong’s responsibilities until a permanent replacement is chosen. Strong had developed a good working relationship with the union representing production and maintenance workers at Vale’s Sudbury operations.

Last Dec. 10, Strong and USW Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand held a news conference at the Steelworkers’ Hall to announce they were entering into negotiations for a new collective agreement. The current five-year contract, hammered out after a tense year-long strike from July 2009-July 2010, expires May 31.

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Iron ore in fresh crisis as forward prices crumble – by Henning Gloystein and Manolo Serapio Jr. (Reuters India – April 10, 2015)

http://in.reuters.com/

SINGAPORE – (Reuters) – Iron ore is veering to a new crisis as prices for future delivery of the commodity slide 30 percent in the space of a month, and its outlook is now more bearish than oil and more dire than ever for miners struggling to just stay in business.

Prices of the steel-making ingredient for immediate delivery have slumped 60 percent over the past year as demand particularly from China slowed rapidly.

Despite the crumbling cash market, miners had been able to hedge future production at prices well above spot levels. Indeed, a month ago, miners could still sell 2017 output at close to $70 a tonne even as April 2015 prices fell below $60 for the first time in more than five years.

Forward iron ore prices have since tumbled below $47 for deliveries all the way until the end of 2017, depriving nearly all miners of any chance of establishing hedges at or above breakeven levels during that period.

A combination of factors brought about the recent capitulation in forward prices, most notably news that China plans to subsidise its iron ore sector to protect its flagging steel industry. Subsidies would help keep mines open and keep supplies flowing.

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Mining firms in Sudbury benefit from energy program – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 8, 2015)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Making the Northern Industrial Electricity Rate Program permanent will help Sudbury’s two largest mining companies lower their costs and remain competitive globally, say their executives.

Sudbury Liberal MPP Glenn Thibeault announced Tuesday that the Government of Ontario will keep funding the program, which was to conclude in 2016, to the tune of about $120 million a year.

Twenty-three companies in Northern Ontario — including forestry companies and stainless steel producers — will benefit from the program.

Vale Ltd. will receive about $20 million annually to offset the cost of energy and Glencore’s Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations will receive about $13 million.

Marc Boissonneault, Glencore vice-president of Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, said the program is one of the pieces of a puzzle that will allow his company to continue to mine beyond 2020.

Glencore has said its resources will run out in five years unless it develops two new mines, the Onaping Depth at its Levack complex and an extension of Nickel Rim Mine called the Nickel Rim Depth.

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[Vale] Thompson miners safe after underground fire – by Lara Schroeder and Peter Chura (Global News – April 6, 2015)

http://globalnews.ca/

WINNIPEG – All of the miners who were stuck underground after a fire broke out in a Thompson, Man., nickel mine have safely returned to the surface.

The eight miners who were still waiting to be rescued Monday afternoon were safely pulled out by 1:25 p.m., mine owner Vale Inco said.

The fire trapped 39 miners in the Vale Inco nickel mine in Thompson, Man., Sunday night.

The 39 mine employees moved to “refuge stations” after a remotely operated piece of equipment called LHD (load-haul-dump) caught fire at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the company’s T1 mine, Vale spokesman Ryan Land said in a news release Monday.

Shanda Skode of Penticton, B.C., said her husband was trapped overnight and she wasn’t happy with the way the company handled the situation.

‘They called me six hours after he was supposed to be back on the surface,” she said. Her husband, who she preferred not to name, was supposed to surface at 5 p.m. CT Sunday, and she worried when he didn’t text her as usual and she couldn’t contact him.

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Vale sets aside $185m to finance expansion – by Tama Salim (Jakarta Post – April 1 2015)

http://www.thejakartapost.com/

Publicly listed nickel mine operator PT Vale Indonesia (INCO) will allocate up to US$185 million in capital expenditures (capex) this year to finance expansion projects, including the construction of new refining facilities. The company’s chief financial officer, Febriany Eddy, said on Tuesday the allocated sum was significantly higher than last year’s capital spending realization of $76.8 million.

She said that Vale would be gearing up for the second phase of its ore processing and refining facility in Sorowako, South Sulawesi, as well as operations in Bahodopi, Central Sulawesi. “Phase 1 is currently being concluded, so we’re starting to plan out the next phase while we await the licenses for expansion,” Febriany told reporters in South Jakarta, on Tuesday.

“If everything goes according to plan, we can realize all our capital spending and put our projects into motion.” Vale’s capital expenditure for 2014 was 51 percent lower than the $163 million target, because of delays in the issuance of required permits and the decision to further assess the rebuilding of an electric furnace.

On the other hand, stakeholder returns in 2014 were high as the firm reached a dividend payout ratio of 58 percent, equal to $50.2 million. Febriany argued that the high payout rate was in line with Vale’s previous actions, citing average dividend payments of more than 50 percent in the last five years.

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Sudbury smelter charges no surprise — union – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 1, 2015)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

A committee of representatives from Vale Ltd. and United Steelworkers Local 6500 is working to ensure the 58 recommendations from a joint investigation into the death last year of a millwright are implemented and that history doesn’t repeat.

Mike Bond, chair of health and safety for USW Local 6500, said some progress has been made to resolve issues at the Copper Cliff Smelter Complex, where Paul Rochette, 36, was killed April 6, 2014, while working on an ore crusher.

Monday, the Ministry of Labour announced it had laid 17 charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in relation to Rochette’s death. Nine were laid against Vale Canada Ltd. and eight were laid against two supervisors, and a third supervisor who was classified as a worker at the time.

The charges against Vale relate to ensuring work was done properly, that workers were educated and trained, and that safeguards were put in place to keep pieces of machines in place.

Bond said no one who knew anything about the situation at the smelter complex last year was surprised so many charges were laid.

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Vale, Sudbury employees charged – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 31, 2015)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The Ministry of Labour has laid nine charges against Vale Canada Ltd. and eight charges against three company employees in the April 6, 2014, death of millwright Paul Rochette at Vale’s Copper Cliff Smelter Complex.

Rochette, 36, died from injuries to the head after a large piston or moil operating under pressure, crushing ingots of nickel under pressure, released from an area of a processing system at the smelter.

A second man, 28, who has never been identified, also suffered injuries to the face and head. Vale has been charged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act with failing to:

– Ensure that while work was being done on the Farrel crusher, any gravity stored energy was dissipated or contained;

– Ensure that while work was being done on the Farrel crusher, all energy isolating devices were properly engaged, locked and tagged;

– Provide information, instruction and supervision to workers on a safe procedure to remove a broken moil point from the jaws of the Farrel crusher;

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A Word From The Editor-in-Chief, March 27, 2015 – by Michael Stutchbury (Australian Financial Review – March 28, 2015)

http://www.afr.com/

Andrew Forrest’s eye-popping call for the world’s big iron ore producers to drive the iron ore price back up by capping their production shows what crazy things the desperate can do. Twiggy even made his “national interest” call in Shanghai, among Chinese buyers of the iron ore dug up by his own Fortescue, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Brazil’s Vale and just as he was about to meet Xi Jinping.

The Fortescue founder is a man of bold ambition and enthusiasm: creating the third force in Australian iron ore, enlisting the Pope to help end modern slavery, and pushing Tony Abbott to narrow indigenous disadvantage. He won’t end up behind bars for his latest big idea, but he is calling for what both Joe Hockey and ACCC chairman Rod Sims suggested would be an illegal producer cartel. As our Matthew Stevens asked: What was Forrest thinking?

Twiggy’s call is a spectacular sign of Australia’s big iron ore price squeeze. Forrest became a billionaire in the 2000s by creating Fortescue on the back of the China boom that drove the iron ore price from US$20 or so a tonne to $US180 a tonne. Now supply has belatedly responded to the increased demand, the price has hurtled back into the US$50s. That’s crunching Fortescue’s margins and forced it to keep producing more to keep its head above water.

In fact, in the past four years, Fortescue has boosted output more than Rio or BHP. But that’s just kept driving down the price towards Fortescue’s cost of production.

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Corporate Brochure: Vale leading with innovation and out of the box thinking (Endeaver Magazine – January 2015)

http://www.littlegatepublishing.com/category/business-profiles/

Headquartered in Brazil, Vale is a global mining company that has set themselves a mission to transform natural resources into prosperity and sustainable development. Standing as the second largest producer of nickel, they are also the leaders in the production of iron-ore and present in over thirty countries across the world. The company’s footprint is as indelible as the minerals they mine and with their recent construction of the Valemax ships, their footprint is set to deepen and extend even further.

“Our operations span five continents,” Claudio Alves, Global Director Sales and Marketing says, “And are diversified across several sectors including metals, coal, fertilisers, logistics, shipping, energy and mining.”

“The industry is one of the most important in the world,” he says, “And it is up to Vale to establish parameters to determine how we conduct ourselves ethically and sustainably.”As the head of marketing and sales, Claudio is a key figure in a highly competitive and at times, controversial industry.

With much being said about the ethics of sourcing and mining limited minerals from the earth, what is seldom mentioned is that ores and the refinement of them provides vital materials for a number of indispensable items such as mobile phones, computers and even large-scale airplanes. Manufacturers of these valuable assets rely on companies like Vale to provide them with high quality ore, which Vale takes great care to source ethically and sustainably.

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DEALTALK-Brazil’s Vale likely to sell rail, ships before mining assets – by Stephen Eisenhammer and Guillermo Parra-Bernal (Reuters U.S. – March 25, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Brazil’s Vale SA may find it easier to dispose of giant ships and part of its stake in a rail logistics business before selling mining assets, as the world’s top iron ore producer looks to raise cash amid a price rout, according to four sources with knowledge of the situation.

Struggling with a slump in iron ore prices, Vale presented a list to investors in December of nine possible options to raise cash. Of the options, only a coal joint venture with Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co Ltd has been announced so far.

A number of the other eight options seem increasingly challenging as the risk associated with both Brazil and mining-related investments continue to mount, said three of the sources, who sought anonymity to speak freely about the matter.

At this point, selling a group of giant ore carriers known as Valemaxes, and disposing of a part, or all, of a 43.8 percent stake in rail freight firm MRS Logística SA seem the best options for Vale, those sources said. Vale declined to comment.

“The infrastructure and logistics play could help Vale unlock value more quickly than the mining assets, which markets are not pricing fairly,” the first source said, adding that “the cash impact of the former options is not great, creating a dilemma for the company.”

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Russell walks out on media amid questions about Inuit land claims – by James McLeod (St. John Telegram – March 18, 2015)

http://www.thetelegram.com/

“We should have increased dialogue. We should be sitting and talking as opposed to discussing litigation,” Russell said in the House of Assembly Tuesday, responding to a question from Liberal House Leader Andrew Parsons.

Russell reportedly told a Nunatsiavut Government minister, “Go ahead and take us to court, we’re going to win anyway.” In the House of Assembly, Parsons wanted to know whether Russell talked to a lawyer before issuing the challenge.

“You asked them to sue us. Was that based on an opinion, and if not, why would you make that comment?” Parsons asked. Russell said he didn’t talk to anybody in the Department of Justice or the Attorney General, but he said some officials in his department looked at it.

“I would assume that our officials went through all the proper channels,” he said. The crux of the issue is an agreement the government signed dealing with the Voisey’s Bay nickel mine, and the Long Harbour processing plant which is behind schedule.

The government amended the agreement to allow Vale, the mine operator, to ship more nickel ore out of the province in the next few years while the Long Harbour plant is getting up and running.

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