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Fine for Vale mine worker deaths goes to Sudbury budget – by CBC News Sudbury (December 16, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

A $1 million fine that Vale paid in the deaths of two miners is being absorbed into Sudbury’s city budget. All provincial offences fines go to city coffers, to help offset the city’s costs of running the provincial court.

Some called on Sudbury city council to give that money to the families of the miners or to create some kind of memorial to them. But city councillor Terry Kett recently said it’s better to honour workers who die on the job at the annual memorial day, which he attends in Sudbury every year.

“That’s more important I think than any naming of a park, etc. I think it’s important that we remember that and we keep that in our hearts and minds,” he said. Kett said $1 million from Vale will help the city balance its books, especially since the provincial offences collected last year were down $350,000.

The city receives the fines — including fines from parking tickets and illegal hunting charges — to help offset the cost of running the provincial offences court. Vale paid its fine after being convicted of health and safety violations leading to the fatal accident at Stobie Mine two years ago.

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Vale commissions hydromet nickel plant at Long Harbour (Northern Miner – December 11, 2013)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry. 

VANCOUVER — Twenty years after Diamond Fields Resources discovered nickel in at Voisey’s Bay in Labrador and eight years after Vale (NYSE: VALE) predecessor Inco started mining, work is now wrapping up on a state-of-the-art hydrometallurgical facility that will process the mine’s rich nickel–copper–cobalt ore without smelting it.

Vale has been sending ore from its open-pit Voisey’s Bay mine to its smelters in Sudbury, Ont., and Thompson, Man. Starting early next year those long hauls will be over, replaced by shipments to a new facility in Long Harbour, 100 km west of St. John’s, N.L. — keeping a promise made to the provincial government that Voisey’s Bay ore or its equivalent would be refined in-province.

Cutting back on haulage is just one advantage. More important is the new facility design, which represents the first time hydromet technology will be used on a large scale to produce nickel.

Hydrometallurgy uses water, oxygen, solvents and high pressure to dissolve a metal from its ore, or from a concentrate or intermediate product, such as matte (the product of smelting).

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Change to Vale’s buying scheme makes city more attractive – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Northern Life – December 06, 2013)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

Changes to Vale’s procurement system will result in new jobs and opportunities in Sudbury, said the executive director of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA).

Dick DeStefano, SAMSSA’s executive director, said Vale’s new regional focus on supply and service procurement will improve Sudbury’s reputation as a world-leader for the mining supply and service sector.

“This will attract a number of satellite offices,” DeStefano said, as companies will set up shop in Sudbury to be closer to the buying action. Mining supply and service companies previously had to deal with Vale’s offices in Toronto and Brazil to set up contracts with the mining giant.

But in 2012, Vale started to change its organizational structure, and shifted its gaze to regional markets. “It was about getting more autonomy in the different regions,” Kelly Strong, Vale’s vice-president of Ontario operations, said regarding the shift in focus.

In early 2014 companies in Sudbury will be able deal with Vale employees who handle procurement directly in Sudbury.

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Manitoba mining towns go boom or bust as industry taps resources (CBC News Manitoba – November 29, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/

Lynn Lake, Thompson tell tale of two mining towns dealing with very different fates

A Manitoba town with a thriving mine is hoping to avoid the fate of another mining town not far away, which recently saw a mass exodus of people. Thompson is enjoying the benefits of a thriving nickel mine operated by Vale, but even the mine operators know that won’t last forever.

“All mines have a finite life, regardless of how good the resource is,” said Mark Scott, the manager of mining for Vale. That’s why the company, Thompson’s city leaders, First Nations groups and local business owners have come up with a diversification strategy called the Thompson Economic Diversification Working Group (TEDWG) to bring variation to the town’s economy.

“It’s important to make sure the economy can stand on its own two feet when life after Vale Manitoba operations eventually does arrive,” said Scott. Life after mining has already arrived in Lynn Lake, 322 kilometres away. Christine Shortt has lived in Lynn Lake for 55 years. Shortt works at the Bronx Motel in town and said the town is markedly different than it was when mining was at its peak.

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Vale Hopes to Sign Contract Soon – by Francezka Nangoy (Jakarta Globe – November 27, 2013)

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/

Vale Indonesia, the largest nickel matte producer in the country, remains optimistic it will conclude its mining contract renegotiation with the government sooner rather than later, ahead of heated national elections next year.

Nico Kanter, president director of the company, told reporters on Tuesday that in the past two months “there has been good progress” in talks with the government.

Mining companies are required to renegotiate mining contracts as the government aims for more benefit from the mining sector as well as creating downstream industries.

“We maintain our belief that we can be the first multinational company to conclude this renegotiation,” Kanter said. “There is an opportunity to finish before the April election.” Vale Indonesia is 59 percent owned by Vale Canada, a unit of Brazil’s Vale.

Indonesia is set to hold legislative and presidential elections in April and July respectively. Kanter said that if a new contract could not be concluded before the election, there was possibility that it may be stretched into 2015.

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Vale to Pay $9.6 Billion to Settle Decade-Long Tax Fight – by Juan Pablo Spinetto – (Bloomberg News – November 28, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA (VALE5), the world’s biggest iron-ore producer, agreed to pay 22.3 billion reais ($9.6 billion) to settle a decade-long tax dispute with Brazil over profits of its foreign units, ahead of a deadline tomorrow.

Vale will pay 5.97 billion reais at the end of this month and 16.4 billion reais in 179 monthly installments, plus interest, after its board decided to join a settlement program offered by the government, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in a filing late yesterday. Shares jumped.

Brazil’s biggest exporters including Vale, brewer Cia. de Bebidas das Americas and steelmaker Gerdau SA (GGBR4) have been fighting a combined 75 billion reais in tax claims on profit of their foreign subsidiaries, according to the country’s tax agency. The net present value of Vale’s liabilities is $6.6 billion, below the $10 billion that was being anticipated by investors, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimates.

“We view this announcement as positive for Vale,” JPMorgan analysts including Rodolfo Angele wrote in a note to clients. “We now can turn the page on the uncertainties surrounding this legal imbroglio to focus on industry and company fundamentals.”

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NEWS RELEASE: Vale will participate in income tax settlement

11/27/2013

Our Board of Directors has approved its participation in the federal tax settlement (REFIS) for payment of amounts relating to Brazilian corporate income tax and social contribution on the net income of its non-Brazilian subsidiaries and affiliates from 2003 to 2012, as established by Brazilian Law No. 12,865/2013 of October 9, 2013 and Provisional Measure 627 (MP 627) of November 11, 2013.

Participating in the REFIS will result in income tax payments of R$ 5.965 billion at the end of this month and R$16.360 billion in 179 monthly installments, adjusted by the Central Bank of Brazil policy interest rate (SELIC). Vale estimates that the net present value of the tax payments is R$ 14.425 billion.

“The proposed terms have allowed for a considerable reduction in the amounts in dispute, and the decision to participate in the REFIS is consistent with our goal of eliminating uncertainties and directing managerial focus on Vale’s businesses,” CEO Murilo Ferreira commented. “The tax payment will be funded by our operating cash flow, not requiring additional indebtedness, and not causing significant changes in our financial planning, which will continue to support our growth and value creation initiatives, the distribution of dividends to shareholders and the maintenance of a solid balance sheet,” Ferreira said.

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Vale celebrates Totten Mine startup – by Norm Tollinsky (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – December 1, 2013)

Norm Tollinsky is editor of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. This column is from the December, 2013 issue.

Mine of the future brimming with state-of-the-art technology

It’s not every day that a new mine goes into production – not even in Sudbury, one of the world’s most important centres of mineral wealth – but, this month, Vale celebrates the official handover to operations at Totten Mine, 40 kilometres west of downtown Sudbury.

Hailed as “a mine of the future” by Kelly Strong, vice-president of Ontario and UK operations, Totten is brimming with advanced technologies.

“We’re very excited about this being our first new mine in over 40 years,” said Strong. “Totten demonstrates that we have this amazing resource under our feet here. Building Totten through some challenging economic times shows our commitment as a company to Sudbury. “One of the things you see in the mining industry is that the price cycle is shorter than the period of time it takes to complete a project,” noted Strong.

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Vale Tax Appeal Suspended as Justice Requests Revision – by Mario Sergio Lima & Juan Pablo Spinetto (Bloomberg News – November 26, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA (VALE5), the world’s biggest iron-ore miner, had its appeal of a 30.5 billion-real ($13.3 billion) government tax claim suspended by Brazil’s Superior Court as the deadline approaches for an out-of-court settlement.

Justice Ari Pargendler, one of five presiding judges, asked to revise the case in a session today in Brasilia. The request followed Justice Napoleao Maia’s proposed approval, Justice Sergio Kukina’s rejection and Justice Benedito Goncalves abstinence. Vale shares fell the most since July.

The case, in which the Rio de Janeiro-based miner is arguing that earnings from foreign operations can’t be taxed in Brazil if they were paid abroad, probably will resume next week, Roberto Duque Estrada, a lawyer for the company, said from the tribunal. That would be after a Nov. 29 deadline for companies to accept a government proposal to scrap fines, interest and legal charges if they agree to pay in one tranche or reduce taxes and interest if they settle in installments.

“The market already priced in this dispute and just wants it to be over,” Leonardo Brito, an analyst at hedge fund Teorica Investimentos, said by telephone from Rio before today’s suspension. “This and the new set of mining rules that Brazil is establishing are pending like swords over the company’s head.”

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Thompson’s future looks up as Vale studies mine potential – CBC News Manitoba (November 25, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/

The northern Manitoba city of Thompson could be home to a new mining mega-development from Vale, which is exploring minerals deep underground.

News of a potential big development is being cautiously welcomed in Thompson, which was devastated by news in 2010 that Vale — the city’s largest employer — would shut down its nickel smelter and refinery there by 2015.

Vale is currently testing ore samples in a project area it calls 1-D, about 3,800 to 4,200 feet underground in the company’s T-3 mine shaft. Preliminary testing in 1-D shows a deposit rich in nickel and copper deposits and also containing some cobalt and precious metals.

Vale says it has been mining in 1-D for years, but officials believe now is the time to dig deeper in an largely untapped section of the deposit extending as much as 6,800 feet underground in some places.

According to the company, geologists have been pulling up core samples containing extremely high-grade nickel. Based on their tests, the geologists believe there are at least 10 million tonnes of nickel present.

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Eramet chief warns of crisis in world nickel market – by Agence France-Presse (Global Post – November 22, 2013)

http://www.globalpost.com/

The chief executive of French mining group Eramet has blamed oversupply in the world nickel market for steep losses at a subsidiary as China ramps up its own production, with little end in sight.

Patrick Buffet said the global overcapacity was causing Societe Le Nickel (SLN), the group’s nickel subsidiary in New Caledonia, to rack up monthly losses of 2.5 billion French Pacific francs ($27 million).

“The crisis in the nickel (market) is very, very intense and nobody expected it to reach such a level,” Buffet told reporters in Noumea on Thursday after a board meeting of SLN, the largest private employer on New Caledonia’s main island of Grande Terre.

The French Pacific territory is home to a quarter of the world’s reserves of nickel, a key ingredient in the manufacture of stainless steel, rechargeable batteries and coins.

Buffet’s warning came after parent group Eramet last month posted a 5.0-percent drop in third-quarter sales to 754 million euros ($1 billion), mainly because of slumping nickel prices.

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10 safety charges laid in fatal mine accident – by Kevin Rollason (Winnipeg Free Press – November 18, 2013)

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Vale Canada took corrective action

VALE Canada Ltd. has been charged with 10 offences under the province’s Workplace Safety and Health Act in a mining accident that killed a Thompson miner in 2011. The charges, laid last month, include allegations that Vale did not provide a safe workplace, did not have safe work procedures and had unsafe equipment.

Murray Nychyporuk, president of United Steelworkers Local 6166, said Friday it’s the first time the mine has been charged in connection with the death of a worker.

“It’s a strong message from the (province) to industry throughout Manitoba, not just Vale, that operations and companies need to provide safe working conditions,” Nychyporuk said.

“Corrective actions did take place following the incident, but we had to lose a friend, a brother, a father and a son, all for corrective measures to be put in place.”

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Vale Sells $1.8 Billion Stake in Norway’s Norsk Hydro – by Juan Pablo Spinetto & Firat Kayakiran (Bloomberg News – November 12, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA (VALE5), the world’s biggest iron ore exporter, sold its stake in aluminum-maker Norsk Hydro ASA (NHY) for $1.8 billion, about half the holding’s value when the Brazilian company acquired it in 2011.

Vale sold 407.1 million shares in Oslo-based Hydro for 25 kroner each, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said today in a statement. If an over-allotment option of 40.7 million shares is exercised in full, Vale will have disposed of its entire 22 percent stake for 11.2 billion kroner ($1.82 billion).

The miner is selling assets, putting projects on hold and focusing on its more profitable iron-ore business in a bid to recover profit margins after commodity prices fell. In September, it sold stakes in a cargo unit for about 2.7 billion reais ($1.2 billion) to Japan’s Mitsui & Co. and a Brazilian government fund after $1.47 billion of asset sales last year, including a coal mine in Colombia and 10 large vessels.

At 25 kroner a share, the deal prices the stake slightly above its value on Vale’s books, said Alan Glezer, an equity analyst at Banco Bradesco SA.

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UPDATE 1-Vale eyes Sudbury deal with Glencore to cut costs (Reuters U.S. – November 7, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

Nov 7 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Vale confirmed on Thursday it is in talks with Glencore Xstrata over potential cooperation between the mining groups’ nickel operations in Canada’s Sudbury basin, in an effort to cut costs as prices languish.

Vale said on Thursday it was not planning “a corporate joint venture” in Sudbury, but was looking at other options to join forces in mining, milling and smelting to save cash. Nickel prices have fallen by around a fifth since January and are languishing around four-year lows, weighed down by oversupply.

“We are looking at the synergies now and plan to start negotiating next year,” Vale’s chief executive Murilo Ferreira told analysts in a quarterly earnings call, adding an eventual deal would not involve a full merger.

Reuters reported last month that Glencore and Vale had revived talks over long-debated cooperation in Sudbury, with the companies considering a number of options for their mining and processing operations in the area. Sources familiar with the situation said then that talks were at an early stage.

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UPDATE 3-Vale Q3 profit doubles on higher iron ore sales, prices – by Jeb Blount and Sabrina Lorenzi (Reuters U.K. – November 6, 2013)

http://uk.reuters.com/

Nov 6 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Vale SA , the world’s second-largest mining company, reported on Wednesday that its third-quarter net income more than doubled from a year earlier, beating analysts’ expectations as iron ore prices and sales volumes rose.

Iron ore prices averaged about a fifth higher in the third quarter of this year than in the same quarter of 2012, according to Thomson Reuters. Net sales, or total sales minus sales taxes, rose 11 percent from a year earlier to $12.7 billion, beating the average analyst estimate of $12.5 billion. The volume of iron ore sales rose 11 percent to 73.4 million tonnes.

“We expected strong volumes, given the robust Brazilian iron ore export figures for July-September, but shipments still exceeded our expectations,” mining analysts Garrett S. Nelson, Mark A. Levin and Nathan P. Martin of BB&T capital markets in Richmond, Virginia said in a report to investors.

“Vale’s results were largely a reflection of iron ore prices that have remained ‘higher for longer’ in the face of widespread oversupply concerns,” they added.

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