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Boom goes Sudbury – by Mike Whitehouse (Sudbury Star – May 31, 2012)

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

The next four years will bring 4,000 new jobs to Sudbury, an economic forecast released Wednesday predicts, but it will not be your grandfather’s economic boom.

The forecast, from the economists at BMO Capital Markets Economics, predicts the kind of rapid, game-changing growth for Sudbury last seen in Alberta — both good and bad — its authors say.

Sustainably strong commodity prices coupled with the maturation of Sudbury’s economy — clearly the centre of Northern Ontario’s booming mining cluster — will lead the way, says Robert Kavcic, an economist at BMO Capital Markets. “Employment in Sudbury has recouped all of the declines suffered during the recession,” he said.

“The city’s small labour pool makes statistics like the jobless rate volatile, but the underlying trend is clearly improving.” Even at 7%, Sudbury’s jobless rate remains below Ontario’s, a feat achieved in 2007, and a stark turnaround from about 15 years of a consistently high local unemployment rate, he said.

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Vale looks for some [mining employment] help – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – May 30, 2012)

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

Vale Ltd. is embarking on an aggressive campaign to hire more than 40 engineers and hundreds of other employees by “selling” the quality of life in the Nickel City and the opportunities for advancement with the giant miner.

At least 400 new employees will be hired this year, many to work on the $3.4 billion in investments the company is making in its Clean AER project at the Copper Cliff Smelter.

Engineers are also needed to do preliminary work on Vale’s Victor-Capre and Copper Cliff Deep projects.

Vale employs almost 4,000 people at Sudbury in six mines, a mill, a smelter and a refinery. Kelly Strong, general manager of Vale’s Ontario operations, says his company is in stiff competition with mining companies, such as BHP and Rio Tinto — and from other industries such as oil and gas.

Part of the company’s hiring plan is promoting a new image of mining, starting in area high schools, and at colleges and universities.

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NEWS RELEASE: VALE SUPPORTS ‘THE LA CLOCHE SPIRIT: THE EQUIVALENT LIGHT’ PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT CELEBRATING WILLISVILLE MOUNTAIN

(L to R) Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha, Ontario Mining Association President Chris Hodgson, Jon Butler and Vale Ontario Corporate Manager Angie Robson, celebrate the launch of “The La Cloche Spirit: The Equivalent Light” at Vale’s Global Base Metals Headquarters in Toronto on May 14, 2012

For Immediate Release

SUDBURY, May 16, 2012 – Vale has found an unlikely partner in Jon Butler, President of the La Cloche Mountains Preservation Society and a local resident of Willisville, Ontario near Vale’s Lawson Quarry operations.

In 2010, Butler discovered that Vale had an aggregate license to mine the historic Willisville Mountain, one of the oldest mountain ranges on earth and the subject of Canadian songs, stories and art painted by the likes of the Group of Seven. In response, Butler launched a social media campaign and online petition to ‘save the mountain.’

(L to R) Jon Butler discusses some of his photography of Willisville Mountain with Rick Bartolucci, Minister of Northern Development & Mines

Working constructively together with Butler and the Ministry of Natural Resources, last April Vale voluntarily surrendered portions of its existing aggregate license to ensure the historic Willisville Mountain and surrounding area will remain untouched and undisturbed.

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Residents get look at Victor-Capre Project – by Laura Stricker (Sudbury Star – May 2, 2012)

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

He’s speaking cautiously, but the project manager for Vale’s Victor-Capre Project is optimistic about the future of the site. “It looks like a viable project, a sustainable project for our future,” Lee Weitzel said.

Weitzel was at a Vale open house in Skead on Tuesday, where members of the community were invited to learn more about the project. The Victor-Capre Project is a potential site for a future mine located near the Greater Sudbury Airport, about 25 kilometres northeast of Sudbury. Vale is in the midst of a pre-feasibility study to see if it’s viable to tackle an exploration project at the site.

“We wanted to hold this open house to begin a dialogue with residents and inform them about the study and some of the options that we’re looking at,” said Angie Robson, Vale’s manager of corporate affairs, Ontario operations.

The Victor-Capre site is made up of what was formerly two different sites, Victor and Capre. The former Victor site has been explored before, said Weitzel.

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Vale’s Sudbury Subterranean aquaculture: How many fish per tonne?

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Ontario Mining Association member Vale, after a successful pilot project, will soon be producing fish near its underground greenhouse at the Creighton Mine in Sudbury.  When they resurface, the subterranean grown fish will be released for restocking Sudbury area lakes and rivers.
 
Back in November of last year, Vale’s Environment Department placed fingerling rainbow trout in 1,500-litre tanks at its surface greenhouse.  Five months of care and feeding resulting in the rainbow trout growing to about 20 centimetres in length.  Recently, they were given a new home after being transported to the Onaping River.
 
“We are very proud of this project and its successful outcome,” said Glen Watson from Vale’s Environment group.  “The fish will provide a boost to the river’s fish population and biodiversity, providing a highly valued resource for the community to enjoy.”

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‘Workers’ voices need to be heard’ – by Jacob Touchette (Sudbury Star – April 30, 2012)

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

Wake up, go to work, come home. Not everyone makes it to the third step. Each year, many workers never get to come home, and on April 28, Day of Mourning, those who have died or been injured on the job were remembered.

City council chambers were packed with people as they gathered to remember those who gave their lives or were injured on the job.

In Sudbury, thoughts were focused on the three families affected by the deaths of Sudbury miners Jason Chenier, Jordan Fram and Stephen Perry.

There have been an average of 240,000 injuries each year for the past 10 years, said Leo Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers Union. “It isn’t just a mining industry issue,” he said. “It’s an issue where workers voices need to be heard.”

Gerard said that despite the efforts of unions and health and safety activists, the numbers of injuries and fatalities is “unacceptable.”

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Ceremony honours fallen workers – by Rita Poliakov (Sudbury Star – April 27, 2012)

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

Hans Brasch spent 40 years working in the mines, where every work-related fatality led to the same question. “The question always came up. Who was next?”

Brasch took his first-hand experience to St. Gabriel’s Villa of Sudbury on Thursday, where he participated in a ceremony remembering those who died in the workplace.

The event, which took place for the residents during the villa’s chapel service, comes several days before Canada’s National Day of Mourning on Saturday, which commemorates workers who have been killed or injured on the job.

Several Sudbury miners were included in the list of names read out during the villa’s ceremony, including Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, who died in Stobie mine when they were hit by a run of muck. Miners like Stephen Perry, 47, who died while working at Vale’s Coleman mine this year, were remembered during a moment of silence.

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Vale sees profit halved – by Jeb Blout and Sabrina Lorenzi, Reuters (Sudbury Star – April 26, 2012)

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

RIO DE JANEIRO — Vale SA, the world’s largest iron ore miner, said on Wednesday that first-quarter profit fell by nearly half from a year earlier because rains limited exports, prices for its main products fell and spending on new mining projects rose.

Net income in the three months ended March 31 fell 44% to $3.83 billion compared with $6.83 billion a year earlier, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in a filing to Brazil’s securities regulator.

Results were in line with the average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Reuters. They expected net income to fall to $3.8 billion, 45% less than the year-earlier period and 19.4% less than in the fourth quarter.

“The first quarter is generally the weakest of the year from a financial and operational perspective,” the filing said. “This year, the strong rain volumes in Brazil deepened the seasonal effect on sales and costs, that along with lower prices for iron-ore and pellets cut our operating margins and profit.” Profit was 18% lower than in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The drop in profit comes as Chief Executive Murilo Ferreira boosts investment to keep up with strong demand for iron ore, nickel, copper and coal from China and other Asian markets. The high demand comes as output from existing mines falls.

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[Vale] Mining company to raise fish underground – CBC News Sudbury (April 20, 2012)

 http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

The tree nursery at Vale’s Sudbury Creighton Mine will become home to a fish hatchery
 
Nickel mining giant Vale will be pulling something new out of the ground in Sudbury — fish. Vale has already been growing tree seedlings in a green house deep in the warm underground for decades, but now the company wants to raise rainbow trout right next to them.

The trees are planted in Sudbury to re-green the landscape scarred by mining. And the fish will be put into lakes “that may have been stressed by mining activities in the past,” said Glen Watson, Vale’s senior environmental specialist.
 
“Northern Ontarians love their fish. Sudburians, in particular, love their fish. We have a lot of lakes to put them in.” Underground heat helps fish grow

Vale has spent the past five months raising Rainbow trout in an above-ground facility. On Thursday it released 4,000 fish in the Onaping River. Now that the system is tested, the project will begin underground at Vale’s Creighton mine.

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NEWS RELEASE: VALE STOCKS ONAPING RIVER WITH LOCAL GREENHOUSE-RAISED FISH

Mark Palkovits-Vale Environment Group (Vale Photo)

SUDBURY, April 19, 2012 – Lately, there have been more than just seedlings growing in Vale’s surface greenhouse in Copper Cliff.

In November 2011, Vale’s Environment Department initiated a pilot project to raise rainbow trout for stocking in Sudbury area lakes and rivers. Rainbow trout fingerlings were placed in two 1,500 litre tanks in Vale’s surface greenhouse. 

Vale consulted with local fish farming expert Mike Meeker of Meeker’s Aquaculture on Manitoulin Island in order to set up the operation and define the operating procedures. Vale also worked with the local office of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to choose an appropriate water body in which to release the Rainbow Trout. 

After five months of feeding and caring, the fish grew to approximately 20 centimetres long, and were transported to the Onaping River for stocking. This location was favoured by Vale due to historical mining impacts on the river system. 

(L to R) Lisa Lanteigne, Mark Palkovits, Glen Watson - Vale Environment Group (Vale Photo)

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OMA member Vale hits the right note with its sponsorship of musical events in Sudbury

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Ontario Mining Association member Vale is sponsoring a series of five concerts during the summer at the Grace Hartman Amphitheatre in Sudbury. Admission is free to all segments of the Vale Concert Series, which will showcase a variety of top-notch Canadian musical talent, and donations to the Sudbury Food Bank will be appreciated.
 
“This is the first event of its kind for Vale and we are thrilled to be bringing such wonderful Canadian talent to Sudbury for our community to enjoy, while supporting such a worthy cause,” said Kelly Strong, Vice President Mining and Milling (North Atlantic) and General Manager of Vale’s Ontario Operations. “We sincerely hope that members of the community come out to enjoy this concert series and this incredible talent.”
 
All shows begin at 7 p.m. The Vale Concert Series kicks off May 9 with Dave Gunning. He is a singer-song writer who has two Canada Folk Music Awards and six East Coast Music Awards to his credit. On June 20, the Juno nominated group Hemingway Corner take to the stage.

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[Sudbury] Soils Study inspires textbook – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 13, 2012)

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

It would cost $15 million and take eight years to complete, but the Sudbury Soils Study is a milestone in Sudbury’s journey from mining-devastated landscape to a greener, healthier city, says the author of a new textbook.

Chris Wren, who headed up the study through his Sudbury Area Risk Assessment (SARA) Group, released the 450-page book on the study funded by Vale and Xstrata (formerly Inco and Falconbridge) at the Vale Living With Lakes Centre on Thursday.

The book has a title as weighty as its contents — Risk Assessment and Environmental Management: A Case Study in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

It compiles thousands of pages of research from three technical reports that Wren and the Sudbury Soils Study’s technical committee realize few people, “almost no one,” will read, said Wren. The textbook is aimed at students and scientists interested in conducting similar studies.

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Results to be known within weeks [Sudbury miners’ deaths] – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – April 13, 2012)

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

Investigation into miners’ deaths forwarded to northern director

A report on the Ministry of Labour’s investigation into the June 8, 2011, deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram at Vale’s Stobie Mine is in the hands of the ministry’s legal services branch.

Chenier, 35, and Fram, 26, were killed when they were working in the No. 7 ore pass at the 3,000-level of the mine and were struck by a run of 350 tons of muck.

Environment Ministry spokesman Matt Blajer said the ministry has completed its investigation and forwarded its findings to its northern director and to the legal branch. Whatever action, if any, comes from that report will be known within weeks. By law, the ministry has a year to investigate on-the-job deaths and lay charges.

The ministry enforces Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act and can lay charges that result in hefty fines and imprisonment.

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Anmar Mechanical part of Vale’s environmental upgrade – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 31, 2012)

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

Anmar Mechanical and Electrical Contractors Inc. is one of dozens of local companies that will benefit from Vale Ltd.’s $2-billion Clean AER Project. The Lively-based company has won the contract to fabricate four converters that are a big part of the environmental upgrade of the Copper Cliff Smelter Complex.

Anmar president Gianni Grossi won’t reveal the exact amount of the contract, but says it is in the neighbourhood of $15 million — and could employ as many as 700 of his employees at the peak of construction.

Each of the converters is 44 feet long and 13 feet in diameter, and is made of two-inch boiler-plate steel that will stand up to high temperatures in the smelting process. Anmar has also bid on contracts for other parts of the Clean AER (Atmospheric Emissions Reduction) Project. His company is also involved in other work during shutdown and other times at Vale facilities.

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ACCENT: Clean AER in works for Sudbury – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – March 31, 2012)

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

Dave Stefanuto tells the story of taking his two young sons to Science North, where they love the space exhibits on the top floor.  One time, he pointed the boys to a photograph of Apollo astronauts walking on the rocky landscape that was Sudbury in the 1970s.

“How come they’re wearing shorts on the moon?” one of his sons asked him, to which Stefanuto replied: “That’s not the moon, that’s Sudbury.” It’s a sobering reminder that Sudbury wasn’t always as green as it is today.

Sudbury was the butt of jokes four decades ago and for years after those astronauts visited a city whose landscape was a dead-ringer for the moon. Anyone who has visited the Nickel City in the last 25 years has had no reason to laugh at us. In three years’ time, they will have even less.

Stefanuto, 39, has come back to Sudbury after seven or eight years spent working for Vale in Newfoundland and Labrador. He came back home to head up Vale’s $2-billion Clean AER (Atmospheric Emissions Reduction) Project.

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