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NEWS RELEASE: VALE’S CLEAN AER PROJECT MARKS MAJOR MILESTONE WITH DELIVERY OF FIRST NEW CONVERTER

For Immediate Release

SUDBURY, September 20, 2012 – Vale is marking a major milestone on its $2-billion “Clean AER Project”, with the delivery of the first converter to be installed in its smelter converter aisle. The new converter is the first of four converters to be replaced as part of the project.

“The delivery of this first converter is a major step in achieving our emissions reductions and is a tangible example that we are on our way to successfully completing this project,” said Dave Stefanuto, Director of the Clean AER Project.

The Clean AER Project, where AER stands for ‘Atmospheric Emissions Reduction’, is one of the largest single environmental investments in Ontario’s history. It will see sulphur dioxide emissions at Vale’s smelter in Sudbury reduced by 70% from current levels, as well as dust and metals emissions reduced a further 35 to 40%.

The project involves a complete retrofit of the converter aisle in the Copper Cliff smelter. Sulphur dioxide that currently goes up the super stack from the converters will be captured in a brand new wet gas cleaning plant and acid plant, converted to sulphuric acid and sold.

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Lack of criminal charges angers [Sudbury] Steelworkers convention – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – September 18, 2012)

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

The international president of United Steelworkers is joining a chorus of outrage over a police decision not to lay criminal charges in the 2011 deaths of two men at Vale Ltd.’s Stobie Mine.
 
Leo Gerard, in Sudbury to attend the USW District 6 triennial convention, said the investigation his union conducted into the deaths of Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, was one of the finest it has done.
 
It took eight months and resulted in a 200-page report with 165 recommendations, chief among them that criminal charges be laid against Vale under the Westray Bill of the Criminal Code of Canada.
 
“When you see what happened at Stobie, and you see what happened here in town with the police deciding not to lay any charges … I’ve been around a long time. I know that stuff,” Gerard said. Both his union’s and the Ministry of Labour’s investigations “said there was deliberate ignoring (of ) certain safety infractions,” said Gerard.

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[Sudbury Vale] Steelworkers prez disturbed by police decision – by Heidi Ulrichsen – (Sudbury Northern Life – September 14, 2012)

This article came from Northern Life, Sudbury’s biweekly newspaper.

Police won’t lay charges in miners’ deaths

Steelworkers Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand said he’s “angry” Greater Sudbury Police have decided not to lay any charges against Vale in the deaths of two miners at Vale’s Stobie Mine June 8, 2011.

Charges could have been laid under the Westray Bill, which makes organizations criminally liable when they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent injuries and deaths on their property.

Insp. Todd Zimmerman of the Greater Sudbury Police said police “conducted a thorough investigation, and we did not reach a threshold of criminality.” There was “no criminal negligence found on the behalf of anyone,” he said.

Jordan Fram and Jason Chenier were killed when a run of muck unexpectedly came out of the ore pass close to where they were working at the 3,000-foot level of the mine, burying them and killing them instantly.

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[Sudbury Vale] Union angry no charges in miners’ deaths – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – September 15, 2012)

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

The president of United Steelworkers Local 6500 is calling for a meeting with officials from Sudbury’s Crown attorney office to discuss why they and Greater Sudbury Police investigators determined no criminal charges should be laid in the deaths of two men at Vale’s Stobie Mine.
 
Rick Bertrand said his union’s executive and other members are angry charges won’t be laid under the Criminal Code of Canada in the June 8, 2011, deaths of Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26.
 
Vale is facing nine charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and one of its supervisors, Keith Birnie, is facing six charges under the act. The union said its eight-month investigation into the men’s deaths showed more serious charges were warranted.
 
“We found disturbing facts … about what went on at Stobie Mine,” Bertrand said Friday of his union’s investigation. USW Local 6500’s investigation determined water was pooled as deep as four or five feet in the corridors of the century-old mine, known for its water problems.

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Vale puts railveyor to test – by Norm Tollinsky (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – September 2012)

Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal is a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury.

The successful demonstration of Sudbury-based Rail-Veyor Technologies’ innovative material handling system at Vale’s 114 Orebody could lead to a significant change in mine design, enabling smaller openings, improved safety and faster advance rates.
 
A surface demonstration of the rail-veyor at Vale’s Stobie Mine proved that the technology worked, but it had to be put to the test in an actual mining operation before the company could specify it for future mine developments.
 
“We proved the ore-handling capability of the rail-veyor at Stobie,” said Alex Henderson, Vale’s general manager of underground technology for base metals. “This demonstration is more about how we integrate it into our development and production processes.”
 
Assuming the final verdict is positive – and all indications suggest it will be – the rail-veyor can be classified as proven technology and considered as an option in feasibility studies for new mine developments in Sudbury and elsewhere across Vale’s global footprint.

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Vale freezes hiring – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – September 13, 2012)

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

Just weeks ago, Vale Ltd. was advertising to hire 400 new employees at its Canadian operations. Today, a hiring freeze is in effect at Vale operations worldwide — including Sudbury — while the Brazil-based miner deals with “challenges” associated with a huge drop in commodity prices.
 
Peter Poppinga, chief executive officer of Vale Canada Ltd. and executive director of its base metals operations, wrote to top-level managers last week, saying Vale base metals leaders are reviewing “every aspect of our business as we speak.”
 
In an email obtained by The Star, Poppinga tells top-level managers the key to short-term and long-term stability is to “reinvent, reshape and turn around” the business.
 
Poppinga stressed safety must always come “at the forefront,” but he said high-level executives are examining performance across all operations — looking at Vale’s ability “to deliver and be competitive, placing renewed emphasis on value over volume.” The company will have to make some “tough decisions,” said Poppinga, which will be announced in the next four to six weeks.

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Good news: Vale’s Thompson smelter and refinery may stay open a year or two beyond 2015 – by John Barker (Thompson Citizen – Septmeber 7, 2012)

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

Peter Poppinga, who less than a year ago replaced Tito Martins in Toronto as chief executive officer of Vale Canada and became executive director of base metals globally for Brazilian-based mining giant Vale, told company managers Sept. 6 “that every aspect of the base metals business is under review, including our Manitoba Operations, and we may face new challenges and new opportunities in the coming months as a result,” Lovro Paulic, general manager of smelting and refining, Don Wood, general manager of production services and Mark Scott, general manager of mining and milling, said in a jointly-issued letter from the three most senior managers in Manitoba Operations to employees here Sept. 7.

“The most pressing and immediate challenge before us is to reduce costs and increase efficiencies while continuing to strive for Zero Harm—these are complementary,” the trio said.

United Steelworkers Local 6166 President Murray Nychyporuk, elected to his second three-year term last spring, says the “news is not surprising” and the union recognizes the world nickel market has taken a serious downturn over the last year and Vale has to find a way to cut costs. Nychyporuk said the union would work with the company during the review process to protect their common interests.

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[Sudbury] Families of mine victims want inquiry – by Sebastien Perth (Sudbury Star – September 4, 2012)

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

While hundreds came out for the inaugural Family Fun Fest at Bell Park to celebrate Labour Day, three families were there to honour their loved ones’ memories. Family members of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram where at the park gathering signatures to convince the government of Ontario to hold an inquiry into the mining industry.
 
Family members say it’s time to have another look into the industry since it has been more than 30 years since the last inquiry, with many deaths due to mining accidents.
 
Ethan Dufoe, father of Lyle Dufoe, who died in a Timmins mining accident in 2007, says there’s been too many deaths since the last review of the Mining Act.
 
“The act hasn’t been reviewed in 30 years, when they had Ham Commission review it (1974). There’s been 92 deaths in Ontario since then. One of them my son,” Dufoe said.

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Vale says ‘no plans’ to shut down operations – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – August 20, 2012)

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

As senior mining analyst at Salman Partners, an investment dealer, Raymond Goldie keeps a close eye on the nickel industry. But he’s finding it difficult to keep tabs on Vale, one of the world’s largest nickel producers.
 
That being said, Goldie is predicting Vale could be planning a production shutdown because of the low price of nickel. Nickel has fallen to below $7 a pound, something that could prompt other companies such as Xstrata Nickel and Norilsk to cease production for awhile as well, he said.
 
Vale spokeswoman Angie Robson said a planned maintenance shutdown is now underway at the company’s Greater Sudbury operations. Robson said the company has no other plans. “We don’t speculate on rumours, but there are no plans to shut down operations,” she said.
 
Goldie and other mining analysts who used to follow the former Inco Ltd. closely are finding it more difficult to do that now that it’s owned by the Brazil-based mining giant.

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Glenecore-Xstrata a possible Vale suitor? – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – August 18, 2012)

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

Should Vale put its base metals division up for sale, there would likely be only one buyer with deep enough pockets – the soon-to-be-merged Xstrata and Glencore.
 
“If that merger goes through, the merged Xstrata/Glencore International plc would be a real huge entity,” mining analyst Stan Sudol said. “Certainly, they could afford to buy the base metal assets of Vale.
 
“It’s a merger the Sudbury Basin would welcome. There are enormous amounts of synergy that couldn’t be realized because of it being two entities. Ninety-five per cent of the area’s nickel operations would be unified.”
 
Six years ago, the former Inco and the former Falconbridge held merger discussions. If that had happened, most of Sudbury’s mining, milling and smelting operations would have been owned by one company.

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Will Vale sell [base metals divison]? – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – August 18, 2012)

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

Six years after buying Inco Ltd. for $19.4 billion, speculation is growing that Brazil-based Vale may be considering unloading its base metals division, which includes nickel operations in Greater Sudbury.

Such a dramatic development can’t be ruled out, said Stan Sudol, a mining analyst who also operates the mining news website Republic of Mining.

Vale’s base metals division could be worth about US$30 billion, almost a third of Vale’s estimated $95-billion total market capitalization, said Sudol. Yet the base metals division may only contribute as little as 5% to the company’s profits.

That’s a scenario Vale executives in Brazil may not be inter-e sted in continuing much longer, especially if world nickel prices and demand continue to slump, he said.

“(Vale) might be saying, ‘This is a complicated business. We are dealing with underground mines. But our specialty is open pit.’ Then, there’s the fact that while Sudbury mining technology is among the best in the world, there’s a whole different culture (with Vale), as much of their business is open-pit mining versus underground mining.”

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Vale announces ‘unfortunate, but not surprising’ delay in [Saskatchewan potash] $3-billion mine – by Richard Blackwell (Globe and Mail – August 17, 2012)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Brazilian mining giant Vale SA is postponing a $3-billion potash project in Saskatchewan, but the province says this is just a minor setback in the huge runup in potash investment that will continue to flow in the coming years.

The huge mine was to be developed near Kronau, a town of about 200 people, 30 kilometres southeast of Regina. It would have employed more than 1,000 workers during construction, and hundreds would have been needed to operate it once it was opened. The mine was expected to produce 2.9 million metric tonnes of potash a year.

But the mine, set to be built over the next three years, will not go ahead as planned because of global economic uncertainly, Vale chief executive officer Murilo Ferreira told reporters in Rio de Janeiro Thursday. Vale is committed to austerity, and may delay other investments as well, he said.

The mine was expected to be a boon to the region, not just in terms of employment, but in sectors that traditionally spring up around big projects, including housing and retail.

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Vale gets new blood [in Sudbury] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – August 17, 2012)

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

The shortage of skilled tradespeople is paying off for two-dozen apprentices at Cambrian College. The apprentice millwrights and heavy-duty equipment technicians are starting work this month at Vale Ltd.’s Sudbury operations.
 
It is not unusual for Vale to hire 20-40 apprentices in a year, said Garwin Pitman, superintendent of learning and development maintenance at Vale.
 
But it is out of the ordinary to hire that many at one time, he said. Pitman was inter viewing potential apprentices Thursday just after the announcement was made in the morning at Cambrian College.
 
Mining and other industries are experiencing a shortage of skilled tradespeople, partly because there are so many new projects in development. Vale is looking to hire another three dozen tradespeople, some of them apprentices, this fall, said Pitman.

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Trial gets started over [Vale Sudbury] miner deaths – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – August 15, 2012)

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

The first court appearance Tuesday of Crown counsel for the Ministry of Labour and an agent for lawyers representing Vale Ltd. and one of its supervisors officially launched what is expected to be a protracted, complicated trial on charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
 
Vale is facing nine charges under the act and supervisor Keith Birnie is facing six charges after an almost yearlong investigation by the Labour ministry into the June 8, 2011, deaths of two men at Stobie Mine.
 
It only took minutes for a justice of the peace in the Ontario Court of Justice to adjourn the matter until Sept. 12, when a judge will begin hearing the case in the criminal division of provincial court. Vale and the supervisor are charged with failing to take reasonable precautions to prevent the movement of material through an ore pass at Stobie Mine where Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, were killed.
 
The men died after being overcome by a run of 350 tons of muck from the No. 7 ore pass of the century-old mine while they were working at the 3,000-foot level. Birnie is facing charges similar to the ones laid against his employer.

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Miners take a loss – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – August 7, 2012)

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

Global mining companies’ multi-billion dollar spending plans will be under scrutiny in the coming weeks when Xstrata and others look set to post their first decline in profits since 2009, hit by falling prices and high costs.
 
Stubbornly high costs and the impact of softer demand on the price of key commodities like iron ore have squeezed margins. Brazil’s Vale posted its worst second-quarter result in two years, while Anglo American saw interim profits drop by more than a third.
 
With the impact of weaker prices largely factored in, analysts say they and investors will be focused instead on companies’ cost-cutting plans. In particular, they will be looking at the impact of a deteriorating environment on the timing of major projects like BHP’s $20 billion expansion plan for Port Hedland in Australia or Olympic Dam in South Australia, one of the world’s largest mines.
 
BHP has already backed away from an $80 billion five-year spending plan announced in 2011, and has since signalled it would review its project pipeline and focus on cutting costs.

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