Sudbury researcher predicts late 2024 construction for bio-mining innovation centre – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 31, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

MIRARCO Mining Innovation CEO confident on capital investment arriving for mine waste tech centre

A Canadian expert in the field of bio-mining hopes to break ground on a Centre for Mine Waste Technologies in Sudbury by the end of this year.

Nadia Mykytczuk, president of MIRARCO Mining Innovation, said she’s following an “aggressive timeline” in seeking to construct a $38-million innovation centre when she spoke before the provincial standing committee on finance and economic affairs in Sudbury, Jan.30, as part of the government’s 2024 pre-budget public hearings.

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Magna Mining drills to expand nickel resources at former INCO mine – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 29, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Canadian, U.S. government incentives look attractive to Sudbury mine developer

The global nickel price is slumping but Magna Mining isn’t breaking stride in making progress to bring two former Sudbury mines back into production. Magna Mining will be running two winter drilling programs at its Crean Hill and Shakespeare properties at the outset of what the local company anticipates will be an exciting year to make new discoveries on these brownfield properties.

With more than $15 million banked, Magna plans to do 25,000 metres of drilling this year, most of it at Crean Hill, a former INCO mine property containing nickel, copper and platinum group metals that the company acquired in November 2022.

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Mining giants told to pay $9.7bn over Brazil dam disaster – by Peter Hoskins (BBC.com – January 26, 2024)

https://www.bbc.com/news/

A federal judge in Brazil has ordered mining giants BHP, Vale and their Samarco iron ore joint venture to pay 47.6bn reais ($9.67bn) in damages over a deadly dam burst in 2015.

The collapse of the Fundão dam in the south-east of the country caused a giant mudslide that killed 19 people. It also severely polluted the Rio Doce river, compromising the waterway to its outlet in the Atlantic Ocean. It was not immediately clear how much each company is required to pay.

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Junior miner shows more nickel to be had in the Sudbury basin – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 19, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

SPC Nickel posts maiden mineral estimate on West Graham Project

An emerging Sudbury nickel mining company has posted a first-time mineral estimate of its deposit in the Sudbury basin. SPC Nickel released a maiden estimate of its West Graham Project on Jan. 17, one of two deposits on its Lockerby East nickel and copper property in an area which has seen previous mining operations.

The company said in the news release that West Graham has the potential to be developed quickly as a low-cost, open-pit operation in its initial stages of mining. But with more exploration, West Graham has huge mineral upside at depth.

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Vale going remote in Sudbury to make mining safer – by Staff (Sudbury Star – January 17, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Among other steps, it has opened its Integrated Remote Operating Center that services its five underground mines in Sudbury

Vale Base Metals Limited and Epiroc Canada have signed a deal to develop, test and use what they call ‘groundbreaking’ techniques to make mining safer.

Vale said it plans to use Epiroc’s technology and digital advances in underground technology to remove employees from the rock face, production drilling areas and ground support locations in support of safe and efficient mining activities.

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How did Vale tailings dam burst and kills hundreds? – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Northern Miner – January 17, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Construction details in the tailings dam at Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) Corrego do Feijao iron ore mine in Brazil may have caused the burst that killed at least 270 people when 10 million cubic metres of sludge destroyed neighbouring settlements and took out a railway bridge, according to Swiss researchers.

Why the dam broke in 2019 specifically – three years after the pond was last loaded with new tailings – and why no significant displacements had been detected before the collapse, is the focus of a new paper by scientists at the university ETH Zurich.

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‘No recent discussions’ on Sudbury mining merger, says Vale operations boss – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 15, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Gord Gilpin says companies discussing ‘strategic alternatives’ are part of ‘normal course of business’

Vale’s head of Ontario base metal operations, Gord Gilpin, is tamping down media speculation of a potential merger with Glencore, its crosstown mining neighbour in Sudbury.

Gilpin issued a Jan. 12 notice to its employees — Clarification of Synergy with Glencore — that it’s business as usual and no talks are underway.

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New push to combine Glencore, Vale mining assets in the Sudbury basin – by Darren MacDonald (CTV Northern Ontario – January 11, 2024)

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

The news service Reuters is reporting that the long dreamed of merger of Vale and Glencore mining assets in Sudbury basin could happen this year. “Talks for a Sudbury tie-up have been on and off since 2006, when annual savings were put at more than $500 million, with a number of options being touted for the mining and processing operations in the area,” the Reuters story said(opens in a new tab).

Brazil-based Vale purchased the former Inco for $19.6 billion in 2006. Talk of combining efforts in the area have surfaced from time to time, and an official with the company raised the issue recently, according to the Reuters story.

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Mining Giant Vale Says China Can’t Control the Price of Iron Ore – by Mariana Durao and Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – December 5, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — China may be the world’s biggest buyer of iron ore, but even that powerful position doesn’t mean that Beijing can succeed in dictating prices for the steelmaking ingredient, said the head of No. 2 producer Vale SA.

The comments by Vale Chief Executive Officer Eduardo Bartolomeo come as China has appeared to ramp up its decades-long struggle to wrest more power over the iron ore market from Vale and its two Australian rivals, BHP Group and Rio Tinto Group, which together dominate global production.

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Three of Canada’s major critical mineral projects are in Sudbury – by Staff (Sudbury Star – November 22, 2023)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

They are Glencore’s Onaping Depth project, Vale’s Copper Cliff Deep project and KGHM’s Victoria Mine project

The federal government has launched a $1.5-billion fund for critical minerals infrastructure, while simultaneously highlighting close to 500 projects nationwide that are generating jobs and growing a greener economy. The funding announcement this week coincided with the release of an annual report on major projects underway across the country in the fields of energy, forestry and mining.

Three of the big mining projects are in Sudbury: Glencore’s Onaping Depth project, with an estimated capital cost of $1 billion to $2.5 billion; the Copper Cliff Deep project being pursued by Vale, pegged at $750 million to $1B; and a revived Victoria Mine project being undertaken in the Whitefish area by Polish company KGHM, at a projected cost of $1B to $2.5B.

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Vale will sell 14% stake in Vale Indonesia – minister (Reuters – November 10, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

JAKARTA, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Mining company Vale will sell a 14% stake in its Indonesian nickel miner Vale Indonesia (INCO.JK) to bring the holding by overseas firms below the maximum limit, Indonesia’s mining minister said on Friday.

Share divestment is a condition Indonesia requires to extend the operation permit for Vale Indonesia. Vale’s current contract is due to end in 2025. Under Indonesian rules, foreign investors are required to divest 51% of their stake to local buyers after a certain period of operation.

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Two Sudbury mining giants partner as Nickel Rim mine ramps down – by Amanda Hicks (CTV Northern Ontario – November 2, 2023)

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

Glencore’s Nickel Rim South Mine is winding down operations with an eye on closing in 2024. Vice-president Peter Xavier said the mine has been important to the company since its inception in 2010.

He said exploration extended the mine’s lifespan from 2021 to 2024, but Glencore has been planning its closure for some time. This will create an opportunity to partner with the city’s other mining giant, Vale.

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Vale to sell sand from Brazilian iron ore tailings – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – October 24, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

International miners creates spinoff company to market treated tailings as ‘sustainable sand’ for construction, road projects

Vale SA, the international parent company of Vale Canada, has had difficulty with the safety of some of its tailings dams, said it has created a new company to sell and distribute sand from its iron ore tailings properties.

Two dams operated by Vale SA failed in recent years, leaving hundreds of miners and civilians dead and creating significant environmental damage. Vale said the new company, named Agera, will be based in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil and is planned to develop and expand what Vale calls the Sustainable Sand business.

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Facing increasing pressure from customers, some miners are switching to renewable energy – by Victoria Milko and Dita Alangkara (Associated Press/Washington Post – October 1, 2023)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

SOROWAKO, Indonesia — Red hot sparks fly through the air as a worker in a heat-resistant suit pokes a long metal rod into a nickel smelter, coaxing the molten metal from a crucible at a processing facility on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

The smelter run by global mining firm Vale and powered by electricity from three dams churns out 75,000 tons of nickel a year for use in batteries, electric vehicles, appliances and many other products.

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Memory Lane: When the Inco Club was the heart of the community – by Jason Marcon (Sudbury.com – September 13, 2023)

https://www.sudbury.com/

For nearly five decades, the Inco Employees Club served as a hub for community, entertainment and more in the city’s downtown core

If a person turns off Elm Street onto Frood Road in downtown Sudbury, they will very quickly come across our city’s nod to the Art Deco form. A grey building that appears triangular at first (not unlike the downtown’s other flatiron buildings) but behind that street-level facade lies an expansive facility that served the community’s needs for nearly 50 years.

Let us now step through its front doors and back in time to immerse ourselves in a little bit of the history as well as some of the special events that were held within the hallowed walls of the Inco Employees Club.

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