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Birchtree Mine dodges a bullet: Vale says ‘care and maintenance’ no longer scheduled for August – by John Barker (Thompson Citizen – May 9, 2013)

The Thompson Citizen, which was established in June 1960, covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000. editor@thompsoncitizen.net

Reprieve comes less than four months before mine faced being mothballed

Birchtree Mine, which opened in 1968, is “no longer scheduled to be placed on care and maintenance in August,” Lovro Paulic, vice-president for Vale’s Manitoba Operations, told employees in an internal Manitoba Operations update circulated Monday. The company had announced last Oct. 18 care and maintenance was being considered for Birchtree Mine in 10 months time, leaving Thompson in a state of suspended animation of sorts over the last seven months. The mine was previously on care and maintenance from 1977 to 1989. The current life of mine plan anticipates closure of Birchtree Mine at some point in the next 10 years.

Vale, which is trying to find $100 million in cost savings at its Manitoba Operations in Thompson to help bring its cost per metric tonne for finished nickel to under US$10,000, says they have achieved 90 per cent of that goal over the last eight months – a cost savings of $90 million with $10 million still to go. The reprieve for Birchtree Mine is “as a direct result of our collective efforts” to achieve that cost savings, Paulic wrote to employees.

Vale is also looking to “secure a strategic investor” to more quickly develop its 1-D Lower ore body, a project first announced almost eight years ago on Aug. 19, 2005, and studied for close to a decade before that to determine if it could be mined profitably.

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2013 Vale Medal Awarded to Jon Baird – Advocate for a united state of mining – by Elise Dyck

http://www.cim.org/en.aspx

The Vale Medal is presented as a mark of distinction and recognition to the person who has made a meritorious and practical contribution of outstanding importance to the mining and metallurgical industry of Canada.

“In recognition of his many years of service in the Canadian mining industry, of his long-time leadership of CAMESE, and of his volunteer work with CIM and other leading mining associations.”

Jon Baird, managing director of the Canadian Association of Mining Equipment and Services for Export (CAMESE), started his career in the mining industry in Canada’s North, working as a field geophysicist. He transferred to the business side of the industry and, almost 50 years later, has worked all around the world, marketing and developing supply chains. Baird’s travel experience has allowed him to see diverse places and people and to face various issues in the mining industry. It also enabled him to understand the vital role collaboration and communication play in the industry’s success.

“It is important how the Canadian mining industry collectively tackles problems that affect everyone,” says Baird. “The mining industry in Canada is very balkanized, due to factors such as geography, natural resources falling under different provincial jurisdictions, and distinct professional associations and advocacy groups working separately on different issues.” Baird saw value in encouraging cooperation among Canada’s mining industry players – companies and associations — and started to play a leadership role in making it happen.

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Antam, Vale back on their feet due to increased sales volume – by Raras Cahyafitri (Jakarta Post – May 01 2013)

http://www.thejakartapost.com/

Listed nickel miners PT Aneka Tambang and PT Vale Indonesia are reporting increased net profits in the first quarter of the year due to higher sales volumes offsetting price pressure.

Aneka Tambang (Antam) reported booking Rp 462.43 billion (US$47 million) in net profits in the first three months of the year, up from Rp 379.19 billion in the same period last year, while Vale recorded $31.5 million in net profits, up 728 percent from $3.8 million.

“In the first quarter, our export volume of nickel ore increased and gold sales also rose, although their prices were almost similar to last year,” outgoing Antam president director Alwinsyah Lubis said after the company’s annual general meeting of shareholders on Tuesday.

Antam also reported that its sales volume for gold in the first quarter was up 63 percent to 93,526 troy ounces. Meanwhile, the firm’s gold sales were Rp 1.55 trillion, up 71 percent year-on-year, contributing 46.5 percent to Antam’s total revenues of Rp 3.34 trillion during the January-to-March period, up 35.5 percent from Rp 2.46 trillion in the same period last year.

Antam’s sales of nickel ore contributed about 33 percent of toal revenues, or Rp 1.12 trillion in the first three months of the year, up 67 percent compared to Rp 662 billion year-on-year, according to the company’s financial report.

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Labour legend [Homer Seguin] laid to rest – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 30, 2013)

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

United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard won’t speak of Homer Seguin in the past tense. Seguin, 79, died last week suffering from diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for years, and a short battle with lung cancer.

His work and his memory won’t be forgotten any time soon. “Homer is my friend, not was my friend,” Gerard told family and friends at Seguin’s funeral Monday at St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in Azilda.

“Homer is the friend of working men and women all over Canada,” not just today, but into the future. The pioneering work Seguin did with United Steelworkers in health and safety in the workplace and occupational disease will one day save the lives of people who haven’t even been born yet, Gerard told the congregation.

Gerard worked all of his union career with Seguin, who started with Inco at 15 in its notorious sintering plant. While he only worked there seven months, fellow USW occupational disease activist, Johnny Gagnon, 85, said it was exposure to nickel oxide and asbestos there that eventually led to his friend’s death.

Seguin moved up through the union movement, serving as president of USW Local 6500 and director, and Gerard recalled working with his friend in contract negotiations with Vale.

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‘One death one too many’ – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – April 29, 2013)

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

The NDP will throw its support behind a push from community organizations for Ontario to have an inquiry on mining deaths in the province, said provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath during the Workers Day of Mourning in Subury.

“There hasn’t been a review or change to legislation in over 30 years,” said Horwath to a large crowd gathered at the Tom Davies Square council chambers to pay homage to people who have died on the job.

“That’s why we continue to see people’s lives be put at risk in mines, and that’s not acceptable.”

An organization called Mining Inquiry Needs Everyone’s Support (MINES) has lobbied the government to call an inquiry into Ontario mine safety after two miners were killed in Sudbury’s Stobie Mine on June 8, 2011. Since 2007, 11 workers have died on the job in Ontario mines.

“It’s frustrating and damning on all of us that we still have a situation in the province of Ontario where people are not sure they can go to work in the morning and are going to come home in the evening,” Horwath told media after her speech Sunday morning.

Sunday’s ceremony was the 29th International Workers Day of Mourning.

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Vale Gains as Cost Cuts End Two Years of Profit Disappointment – by Juan Pablo Spinetto – (Bloomberg.com – April 25, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA (VALE) rose the most among major iron-ore producers after profit beat analysts’ estimates for the first time in two years on cost reductions and higher copper sales that offset lower prices for the steel ingredient.

Shares in the world’s third-largest mining company rose for a fifth straight day, gaining 2.2 percent to 32.82 reais at 10:41 a.m. in Sao Paulo. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group, the largest miners, both rose 0.7 percent in London.

First-quarter net income of $3.11 billion, or 60 cents a share, compared with a loss of $2.7 billion, or 52 cents, in the previous three-month period, according to a statement after the close of trading yesterday. Vale was expected to post per-share profit excluding items of 55.8 cents, the average of 13 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Vale, the worst- performing major mining stock this year, is seeking to bolster investor confidence by putting lower-return projects on hold, selling assets and cutting costs.

“Vale reported a much stronger-than-expected 1Q13, driven by lower costs and expenses and a stronger performance from the base metals business,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts Marcelo Aguiar and Diogo Miura wrote in a note to clients. “These drivers should provide a strong catalyst to consensus earnings upgrades and reduce the bearish sentiment towards Vale.”

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Vale Says Some Progress Made on Contract Talks – by Muhamad Al Azhari (Jakarta Globe – April 24, 2013)

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/

Vale Indonesia, the local unit of the global nickel giant, says it has made progress in mining contract renegotiations with the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.

“There are four items that we continue to discuss,” Vale president director Nico Kanter told reporters after a shareholders meeting in South Jakarta on Tuesday, declining to reveal more specific details on the talks. “We are optimistic. … If the government has good intentions, we also have good intentions.”

Nico said the company’s $2 billion nickel smelter plan will depend on the outcome of the renegotiations. “We have plans to boost the capacity of the smelter that we already have. Our target is to produce 120,000 tons of nickel in 2017,” Nico said.

Several miners are currently renegotiating their contracts after the passage of a 2009 mining law designed to elicit more local benefits from the sector, by increasing the royalties paid by miners and adding value to mineral commodities exports.

The 2009 law included an obligation for miners to submit plans to process raw materials domestically before 2014, limits on concession areas, higher royalties for the government and an obligation for foreign miners to gradually divest their shares to local entities five years after production commences.

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UPDATE 2-Vale Q1 profit falls despite big cost cuts – by Jeb Blount (Reuters U.K. – April 25, 2013)

http://uk.reuters.com/

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 24 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Vale SA , the world’s second-largest mining company, reported an 18 percent slide in first-quarter net profit as bigger-than-expected cuts in operating costs failed to offset lower sales and a hit from taxes and foreign exchange.

Despite the drop, the result beat analysts expectations and may help boost Vale’s stock as the company responds to investor calls for a tighter reign on spending amid concerns over weaker metals prices as growth in China slows.

Net income of $3.11 billion in the three months ending March 31 beat the $2.71 billion average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Reuters and reversed a fourth-quarter loss, Vale’s first quarterly loss in a decade.

The result was still down on $3.79 billion a year earlier, and 25 percent below the average $4 billion quarterly profit the world’s largest producer of iron ore has recorded for the previous 11 quarters.

The lackluster outcome may add to nervousness that a decade-long mining boom led by ravenous Chinese demand for steel and other metals is ending, despite a rebound in iron ore prices after a steep drop last year. Like rivals BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto , who have been cutting costs and shunning expensive acquisitions, Vale slashed planned 2013 investment 24 percent in December.

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Vale’s former iron man sets sights on Africa – by Silvia Antonioli and Clara Ferreira-Marques (Reuters U.K. – April 23, 2013)

http://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – At the helm of Brazil’s Vale for a decade, Roger Agnelli turned the conservative iron ore producer into a global heavyweight. Now, he is back in the game.

The 53-year-old, ousted from Vale two years ago, is betting on the world’s hunger for resources, Africa’s potential and his team’s ability to operate where others fear to tread.

“You have a lot of financial guys looking to invest, looking for opportunities,” said the former banker, sitting back in the library of a smart central London hotel. “But guys who go into the middle of the forest, into the middle of the desert to implement a project, those are still scarce.”

Agnelli set up AGN Participacoes, a holding company, shortly after leaving Vale, to invest in biofuel. Last July, he teamed up with billionaire Andre Esteves’ investment bank BTG Pactual to set up B&A Mineracao, a mining group focused on fertiliser, iron ore and copper, in Latin America and Africa.

That $520 million venture – one of a handful of investment ventures set up by an outgoing generation of mining executives – has already put its cash to use, investing $160 million in fertiliser projects and copper.

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Nickel prices a huge challenge: Vale VP – Staff (Sudbury Northern Life – April 16, 2013)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Strong says $7 nickel today equals $2.50 a decade ago

Current nickel prices of a little more than $7 a pound are comparable to $2.50 a pound a decade ago, creating huge challenges for Sudbury’s largest nickel miner.

Kelly Strong, Vale’s vice-president of Ontario and UK operations, made the comparison Tuesday at a packed luncheon at the Howard Johnson in Sudbury, hosted by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.

Strong said several factors have substantially increased mining costs, including oil prices that have increased by 350 per cent, and the Canadian dollar, which has increased in value by 60 per cent compared to the U.S. dollar.

“Today’s prices are actually as low as historical recessionary prices,” Strong said. “And those of us who lived through those price cycles know how challenging they were.”

He also paid tribute to three miners who were killed on the job at Vale – Jordan Fram, Jason Chenier and Stephen Perry. Strong said the company has gone through a dark period and has put a renewed emphasis on safety.

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NEWS RELEASE: VALE LAUNCHES NEW $13 MILLION TUS PROCESSING PLANT


(L to R) Bruce Bichel, General Manager, Smelting & Refining, Ontario Operations, Vale;, Mayor Vance Badawey, City of Port Colborne; Jason Cheshire, Processing Engineer, Vale.

PORT COLBORNE, ON, April 17, 2013 – Vale kicked off production at its new Tower Underflow Solids (TUS) processing facility in a ribbon cutting celebration at its Precious Metals Refinery in Port Colborne today.

This investment allows Vale to process TUS for enhanced mineral recovery. TUS is a black mud-like material comprised of precious metals, copper, selenium, bismuth and tellurium.

“This investment is a clear indication of Vale’s commitment to our operations in Port Colborne,” said Kelly Strong, Vice-President of Vale’s Ontario and UK Operations. “The new TUS processing facility offers substantial return on investment and strengthens our market position for many years to come.”

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Vale’s commitment to Sudbury exemplified with $2.7 billion investment: Strong – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 17, 2013)

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

Anyone who doubts the commitment of Vale to Sudbury need look no further than a spread sheet, according to a Vale executive.

The Brazil-based miner invested $2.7 billion in Sudbury from 2007-12 – equivalent to the cost of building eight hospitals the size of Health Sciences North.

Another way of look at it is this: $2.7 billion is the approximate net worth of Oprah Winfrey, Kelly Strong told an audience Tuesday at a luncheon sponsored by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.

Strong delivered the message 225 people wanted to hear – that Vale has a long and bright future in the Nickel City and intends to spend billions more here in the next few years.

Appointed vice-president of Ontario and U.K. operations by Vale in November, Strong gave his first major public speech at the luncheon. Sudbury can expect to hear more from the mining engineer turned executive, whose hometown is Espanola.

After an aggressive period of growth in which Vale aimed to become one of the biggest mining companies in the world, its corporate philosophy has changed.

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Vale faces ‘new world’ – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 15, 2013)

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

Vale is no longer aiming to be the largest mining company in the world, says the man in charge of its Sudbury operations.

It’s looking instead to generate more value from the business it has, focusing on its core assets and ensuring they generate the capital necessary to rein-vest in operations.

Kelly Strong, a mining engineer who has worked at Vale operations in Ontario since 2001 except for a three-year stint in Indonesia, was named the company’s vice-president of Ontario and U.K. operations last November.

Strong hasn’t spoken much publicly since then, but spoke of some of his priorities in an editorial board meeting with The Sudbury Star last week. That meeting was conducted underground at the 7,400-foot refuge station at Creighton Mine, where a $247- million expansion program is underway.

The timing of Brazil-based Vale purchasing the former Inco in 2006 was good, said Strong, given Inco didn’t have the “kind of money” to invest in aging infrastructure. The operations were at the “critical stage where we had to start investing back in the business” or it would have had significant challenges.

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Sudbury Mining a bright future – by Carol Muligan (Sudbury Star – April 13, 2013)

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

Editor’s Note: Sudbury Star managing editor Brian MacLeod, photographer John Lappa and reporter Carol Mulligan spent Thursday at Vale’s Creighton Mine, at the invitation of Kelly Strong, Vale’s vicepresident of Ontario and UK operations. Look for news coverage of our conversation with Strong next week in The Star.

Of the 330 people who work at Vale’s Creighton Mine, Pat Shell says he has the best job.

A production miner described by his supervisors as a proud hockey dad and “bolter extraordinaire,” Shell turns off the piece of machinery he’s operating at Creighton’s 7,910-foot level mid-morning Thursday. He’s been installing ground control supports to make the area safe for people to work.

Shell explains what he’s doing to three journalists touring the mine, led by Vale vicepresident of Ontario and UK Operations Kelly Strong and other Creighton managers.

The mine has come a long way from the open-pit operation it began as in 1901, evolving into one of the most storied, well researched, highly regarded and, no doubt, profitable nickel mines in Canada, if not the world.

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Trip underground brings reporter closer to father – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 13, 2013)

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

What seemed like a good idea was questionable Wednesday at 2:30 a.m. mid-panic attack.

It started weeks back with a request to Vale’s Angie Robson for an interview with Kelly Strong after he was appointed vice-president of Vale’s Ontario and U.K. operations.

It ended Thursday with The Star’s managing editor Brian MacLeod, photographer John Lappa and I going 1.5 miles underground.

Strong suggested we do the interview underground and we settled on Creighton Mine after I mentioned my father had worked there decades ago.

I was looking forward to it until Robson sent me a fact sheet about Creighton two days before our visit and it registered that Creighton Mine is as deep as 4.5 CN Towers stacked up. Gulp.

My father, Ernie Mulligan, worked there for at least a dozen years before he died in 1963. As a girl, I pestered my dad to go to work with him. At age nine, I was wounded when my boy cousin could accompany his electrician father to work in a residence, when I couldn’t see where my dad worked.

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