Tag Archives: Vale

Cedric Laney to help direct Vale Base Metals innovation roadmap

Base metals, Mining people, , , , ,

Cedric Laney has been appointed to the role of Principal Mining Engineer for surface mines at Vale’s Base Metals Technology and Innovation division, the company has confirmed.

In this role, Laney will lead the innovation roadmap, technical governance and engineering support for the Base Metals division’s surface mines. He will report to Samantha Espley, Head of Mining, Technology & Innovation for Vale Base Metals.

“This is a critical role to aid in guiding technical applications in the mines resulting in improved safety, sustainability, and profitability,” Espley said.

Laney has held several key leadership positions at Vale’s Goro operations in New Caledonia (pictured), most recently as the Manager for Mine Engineering and Construction and, last year, as the Mine Manager.

“His guidance and knowledge over the last seven years has been instrumental to bring success to the team in Goro,” Espley said, adding, “He will be missed by his many colleagues there.”

GMG members devise mine automation guideline

Automation, Communications in mining, Mining equipment, Mining industry recognition, Mining policy, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The likes of Anglo American, BHP, Barrick Gold, Glencore, Newmont, Rio Tinto, Teck and Vale have collaborated on the Global Mining Guidelines Group’s (GMG) latest guideline on automation.

The Guideline for the Implementation of Autonomous Systems in Mining offers a broad view of the implementation of these systems, which are being used more and more frequently due to their potential for making the mining industry safer and more productive, according to GMG.

Christine Erikson, General Manager Improvement and Smart Business at Roy Hill, said the guideline “covers all aspects of operations, including people, safety, technology, engineering, regulatory requirements, business process and organisation models”. She added: “The guideline considers all perspectives in the industry, making it relevant and practical in implementation.”

The guideline provides a framework for mining stakeholders to follow when establishing autonomous mining projects ranging from single autonomous vehicles and hybrid fleets to highly autonomous fleets, GMG said. It offers guidance on how stakeholders should approach autonomous mining and describes common practices.

“More specifically, the publication addresses change management, developing a business case, health and safety and risk management, regulatory engagement, community and social impact, and operational readiness and deployment,” GMG said.

“There has been an incredible level of engagement in this project since its launch last year,” said Andrew Scott, Principal Innovator, Symbiotic Innovations, and GMG Vice-Chair Working Groups, who facilitated many of the workshops. “The industry interest reflects the growing importance and relevance of autonomous systems in mining and the industry’s need for a unified framework for mitigating risks and managing change while maximising the value of autonomy.”

Chirag Sathe, Principal, Risk & Business Analysis Technology at BHP – one of the project co-leaders alongside Glenn Johnson, Senior Mining Engineer, Technology at Teck – said the guideline is relevant even to those who have already embraced autonomy: “I would say that even though some mining companies have implemented autonomy, it hasn’t been a smooth ride and there are a number of lessons learned. This guideline would be a good reference material to everyone to look at various aspects while implementing autonomy. It is not meant to provide answers to every potential issue, but it at least may provide some guidance on what to look for.”

Erikson concurred, saying, “Roy Hill’s involvement has given greater insight into industry learnings that we have considered as part of our own autonomous projects.”

The guideline also promotes cooperation between the involved parties as a means of easing the implementation process, according to GMG. Andy Mulholland, GEOVIA Management Director at Dassault Systèmes, said: “Mining companies will need to rely heavily on their technology partners.” This guideline “sets down a great framework to be able to collaborate”, he added.

Sathe said: “As technology is moving very fast, guideline development also should keep pace with the change.”

As a result, the guideline will be reviewed and updated on a regular basis, according to GMG.

GMG said: “Although implementing autonomous systems creates new challenges, such as changes to the workforce and the workplace, their successful deployment adds definite value, with improved safety and efficiency and lower maintenance costs. As more operations move toward the application of these technologies, this guideline will be an invaluable asset.

Mark O’Brien, Manager, Digital Transformation at CITIC Pacific Mining, said the process of developing the guideline highlighted “just how much there is to factor into deciding whether to implement autonomy, whether you’re ready for it and what the journey is going to look like.

“Having this all captured in a single, well-considered document is a terrific resource.”

New court order could lead to shutdown of Vale’s Brucutu iron ore mine

Automation, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mining safety, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vale says it has been made aware of a decision by the 22nd Civil Court of the Comarca of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, ordering the iron ore miner to stop using its Laranjeiras, Menezes II, Capitão do Mato, Dique B, Taquaras, Forquilha I, Forquilha II and Forquilha III dams.

The decision, which is within the scope of the public civil action no 5013909-51.2019.8.13.0024 filed by the Public Prosecution Office of the State of Minas Gerais, could see the company have to close the Brucutu mine (pictured) in its Minas Centrais complex, cutting some 30 Mt/y of iron ore supply.

The Brucutu unit is the largest iron mine of Minas Gerais in production, and the second largest in the country, only behind Carajás, in Pará, according to the company.

Among the dams included in the court order, three were built by the upstream method – Forquilha I, Forquilha II and Forquilha III – and were already inactive and covered by the accelerated decommissioning plan Vale previously announced to the market. The other structures, including the Laranjeiras dam at Brucutu, were built by the conventional method.

“These structures built by the conventional method have the sole purpose of sediment containment and not tailings disposal except in the case of the Laranjeiras dam,” Vale said. “All dams are duly licensed and have their respective stability reports in force. Vale therefore understands that there is no technical basis nor risk assessment to justify a decision to suspend the operation of any of these dams.”

Vale said it will adopt the “appropriate legal measures” in relation to this decision and reiterated that all the emergency measures necessary to assist the impacted people and to mitigate the impacts resulting from the breach of Dam I of the Córrego de Feijão mine are being duly adopted.

Vale currently has a fleet of Caterpillar 240 ton (218 t) 793F CMD fully autonomous trucks running at the Brucutu iron ore mine.

 

Vale looks to decommission upstream tailings dams following Brumadinho breach

Environmental, Mine operation news, Mining safety, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , ,

Vale says it has presented to the Brazilian authorities a plan to decommission all its dams built by the upstream method.

The plan aims to “de-characterise” these structures as tailings dams in order to reintegrate them into the environment, the miner said.

The move by the miner comes less than a week after reporting a breach to the tailings dam at the Feijão mine in Brumadinho, Brazil, which saw water dispersed more than 63 km from the point of breach. As at 18:00 (Brazil time) on January 27, Vale said 361 displaced people had been found, 305 people were missing and 16 fatalities were confirmed by the Instituto Médico Legal.

Vale currently has 10 dams built by the upstream method, all of which are currently inactive. All of Vale’s dams present stability reports issued by external, independent and internationally respected companies, the company said.

The miner estimates investments of around BRL5 billion ($1.3 billion) will be necessary to decommission its upstream dams and the decommissioning process will occur over the next three years.

In order to carry out the decommissioning of the upstream dams safely and quickly, Vale will temporarily halt the production of the units where the structures are located, namely: Abóboras, Vargem Grande, Capitão do Mato and Tamanduá operations, in the Vargem Grande complex; and the Jangada, Fábrica, Segredo, João Pereira and Alto Bandeira operations, in the Paraopeba complex, also including the stoppage of the Fábrica and Vargem Grande pelletising plants.

“The operation of the halted units will be resumed as the decommissioning works are completed,” it said.

The estimated impact of the production stoppage is about 40 Mt/y of iron ore. Included in this figure is the pellet feed needed for the production of 11 Mt of pellets, an impact that will be offset by the increase in production of other systems of the company, Vale said.

Vale’s 2018 iron ore production is expected to come in at 390-400 Mt, alongside 55 Mt of iron ore pellets.

The miner added that it expected to reallocate all its collaborators currently located in the operations that will be halted.

Photo caption: Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman flies over the Brumadinho site

Wood Mackenzie poses mine electrification and automation question

Automation, Base metals, Environmental, IoT, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Power supply for mines, Precious metals, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Electrification and automation will be key priorities for mining companies in 2019, new research from Wood Mackenzie has claimed.

In reviewing the research firm’s ‘Global trends: what to look for in 2019’ report, Wood Mackenzie Research Director, Prakash Sharma, said: “Building a world-class low-cost mining business seems to be the mantra.

“Major players, such as BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale, are increasing the share of electricity and automation in mining operations. The objective is to not only reduce scope 1 emissions (from their own activities) and air pollution, but also to lower human involvement and operating expenditure.

“By employing data analytics, companies are chasing productivity and efficiency and lowering costs as a result. The aim is to stay at the lower end of the cost curve should demand for traditional mining commodities fall.”

In 2017, BHP set a long-term goal of achieving net-zero scope 1 and 2 emissions in the second half of this century, while, in 2018, Rio Tinto announced successful deployment of AutoHaulTM (pictured), “establishing the world’s largest robot and first automated heavy-haul long-distance rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia”, Sharma said.

“The key question will be whether other mining majors follow this trend in 2019.”

In terms of adopting automated technologies, BHP and Rio are far from being alone.

Vale’s Brucutu iron ore mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil, is set to go fully-autonomous this year – as a fleet of seven new Caterpillar 240 ton (218 t) 793F CMD fully autonomous trucks is expanded to 13 – Fortescue Metals is continuing its manual-to-automation fleet conversion at Christmas Creek, in Australia, and Norilsk Nickel recently told IM it was looking to introduce a “fully-automated mine”.

This is only the start.

NGEx Resources and Filo Mining, which are looking to develop open-pit copper operations in South America, confirmed in the past few months they were looking to incorporate autonomous haul truck technology from the off. These admissions came in their prefeasibility studies, which are likely to pre-date mining operations by three to five years.

And, underground, Resolute Mining and Sandvik plan to fully-automate the Syama block cave mine in Mali this year. The mine started commissioning at the back end of last year, hit the first production stopes in December and is expected to ramp up to steady-state output of over 300,000 oz/y by June.

This is but a handful of trials and projects going on in the automated mining space, with the process plant end also seeing a number of innovative trials or installations to move away from manual mode.

On the electrification question, specifically, Sharma told IM that grid-connected mines were acting faster when it came to adoption compared with those operating remotely. “Shovels and drilling machines at surface mines are already using electricity. Up to 100 t dump trucks are using electric-motors (battery-operated) at some mines in China,” he said.

“At underground mines, electric machines are increasingly used but batteries are yet to take off.”

The latter isn’t the case in Ontario, Canada, where Goldcorp (Borden) and Kirkland Lake Gold (Macassa) are using battery-powered equipment underground in their load and haul and utility fleets. In Sudbury, Canada, too there have been a number of deliveries of such machinery to some of its world-renowned base metal mines. (You can hear more about this at the inaugural Electric Mine conference in April).

As with the majority of technology projects, finance is the biggest hurdle for widespread adoption, according to Sharma.

“Another issue is around the financial health of the mining companies. Some are not willing to re-invest due to uncertainty around the commodities they mine. Some are focused on diversification of portfolios. There are others who want to act quickly, consolidate and take first mover advantage to decarbonise,” he said.

“We believe the electrification and automation in mining will continue to expand and tightening environmental policies will drive the shift. But a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach will not work,” he concluded.

Vale signs long-term renewable energy pact with Casa dos Ventos in Brazil

Base metals, Environmental, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, , , ,

Vale has signed a long-term energy supply contract with Casa dos Ventos as part of its plan to generate 100% of its electricity in Brazil by 2030 through renewable sources.

The agreement is related to energy produced from the Folha Larga Sul wind farm in Campo Formoso, Bahia. With an installed capacity of 151.2 MW, the project is expected begin commercial operation by the first half of 2020. Vale says its energy has been contracted for 23 years.

The pact also includes a future asset call option held by Vale.

“The partnership is yet another step into Vale’s strategy to achieve 100% self-generation of electricity in Brazil by 2030 through the use of renewable sources of energy,” the company said.

Vale after more cost savings with development of artificial intelligence centre

Automation, Base metals, Bulk handling, Coal technology, Communications in mining, Environmental, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , , ,

Vale’s is today inaugurating its Artificial Intelligence Center in Vitória (Espírito Santo state, Brazil), a centre aimed at improving maintenance, processes, and environmental, health and safety compliance controls.

The facility, which will develop and monitor AI initiatives from the company’s units across several countries, has already saved the company more than $20 million/y, and another $37 million is expected to come from initiatives already underway.

“The benefits derive from improving maintenance of assets (from off-highway trucks to railroad tracks), improving management of processes in pelletising and ore processing plants, as well as enhancing environmental, health and safety and compliance controls,” Vale said.

Hélio Mosquim, the IT Innovation executive manager, said the new centre will “intensify the integration and collaboration” among those people responsible for different projects.

“Also, this initiative will promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge, increasing synergy among teams and generating results on a global scale. Most features developed for one project can be applied to others,” he said.

The centre is located at the Tubarão unit, in Vitória, which comprises eight pelletising plants, the operational centre of Vitória Minas railroad, and four port terminals distributed across 14 km². Some 50 professionals – including data scientists and engineers as well as business experts – are exclusively dedicated to Vale’s AI projects. Vale has 15 of them working at the new centre to support thousands of assets (such as trucks, excavators, trains, conveyor belts, etc), among other tasks.

“Broadly speaking, AI is the ability of machines to simulate the human decision-making process and perform complex tasks normally requiring human intelligence,” Vale said. “It is part of a variety of systems – from those used for recommendations on shopping sites to stand-alone cars. Vale uses AI systems to collect and analyse millions of data from its projects, generating insights that will help predict problems and influence decision making.”

Vale’s teams are currently working on 13 lines of projects carried out alongside some of the company’s corporate and business areas covering ferrous metals, base metals, and coal.

Vale’s Digital Transformation Director, Afzal Jessa, said: “artificial intelligence has the potential to generate value for all business areas of the company. We’re taking another important step towards digital transformation to increase productivity and operational efficiency, achieve the highest levels of health and safety, improve our financial performance and drive innovation.”

Vale’s digital transformation programme is expected to generate gains in all business areas. In iron ore, in particular, it shall reduce the cost of production by $0.50/t until 2023.

The programme is based on improving asset performance, optimising maintenance, increasing workforce efficiency, and integrating the value chain. Technological innovations developed by the company include the Internet of Things, AI, mobile applications, robotisation and autonomous equipment (such as trucks and drills).

Vale outlined six examples of projects being developed in the new centre:

  1. Rail fracture prevention – One of the high-impact projects being developed at Carajás railroad (Estrada de Ferro de Carajás) is focused on predicting rail fracture, which is one of the most common occurrences and most serious for the operation. Data generated by the railroads uncovered a solution that identifies the occurrence of one or more fractures in a specific rail branch. In addition to increased operating security, the solution decreases railroad shutdowns to repair fractured rails.
  2. Train wheel-set maintenance – A set of sensors installed by the railroad called waysides monitor the wear as well as impact of wheel-sets, temperature and noise of bearings, as well as displacements of the bogie (an important part of the railroad car). By cross-checking the data generated by these sensors with information from other systems, mathematical models were created to allow the maintenance team to predict the behaviour of wheel-sets in the following 30 days. Based on this information, the team can plan the purchase and maintenance of assets, thus extending their useful life. In the first year, the programme generated savings of BRL2.3 million ($624,019) – about 10 times the amount invested in its implementation.
  3. Maintenance of mine assets – Collection of data generated by mine equipment, such as off-highway trucks, excavators and loaders, as well as use of AI techniques. A project implemented at Salobo mine, in Pará, increased the useful life of off-highway truck tires by approximately 30% in one year. These projects have produced $8 million in savings.
    Another project addresses the increase of useful life and prevention of premature failure of powertrains on off-highway trucks and other mobile assets of the mine, such as loaders and excavators. This is one of Vale’s major projects, involving 15 operations in Brazil, Canada and Mozambique. Sixty per cent of the company’s off-highway trucks already use this system. The approved potential of savings amounts to more than BRL2 million.
  4. Reduction of fuel consumption – A partnership between Vale’s operational areas and researchers of the University of Queensland, Australia, helped the company’s data scientists develop a system to reduce the fuel used by off-highway trucks. Tests conducted in the state of Minas Gerais showed the project can potentially reduce the diesel consumption.
  5. Pelletising process optimization – Data generated during production of pellets were analysed using AI techniques and generated several insights as well as recommendations on ideal operational conditions for the pelletising plants. These process improvements generated $3 million in savings per year in one of the plants, in Vitória. The gains came from a 7% reduction in variable costs by improving the balance between the coal and natural gas used in the process and reducing the use of electric power, among other factors.
  6. Data analysis to avoid safety incidents – Started in 2017 in partnership with the health and safety area, the project analyses the demographic profile of employees to evaluate which ones are more exposed to accidents. The data generated is combined with historical accidents, near misses, and unsafe conditions of the localities. The system uses this information to calculate the probability of incidents occurring in each area in a specific period of time – in a week, for example – as well as its current risk, enabling to evaluate whether the employees’ risk exposure in the work environment has increased or decreased. Then, it is possible to prioritise the activities of health and safety professionals.
The Electric Mine logo

The Electric Mine conference shifts gear

Base metals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining project news, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

With just under four months to go, The Electric Mine conference is charging up to full capacity.

IM has been able to assemble a world-class speaker line-up covering the entire mine electrification process – from R&D and power infrastructure, to battery charging and electrified equipment.

The conference, to take place on April 4-5, 2019, in Toronto, Canada, will host the great and the good in this fast-evolving sector and hear case studies from real mine trials or applications.

This includes a presentation from Kirkland Lake Gold, which is currently running one of the largest in-production underground battery-electric fleets in the industry at its Macassa gold mine in Canada.

Just last month, IM heard that some 33 units were active underground at the deep and high-grade mine in Ontario and Andrew Schinkel, Senior Electrical Engineer of the Macassa Mine Complex, will most likely be able to add to that number, as well as comment on the fleet’s productivity, come conference time.

The soon-to-be-in-production Borden gold project, also in Ontario, will be under the spotlight at the event, with the involved OEMs and mining company collaborating on stage as they have during mine development.

Maarten van Koppen (pictured, left), Senior Project Engineer at Goldcorp Porcupine Mines, Jeff Anderson, Senior Mechanical Designer, MacLean Engineering, and a Sandvik Mining co-speaker (to be confirmed), will present: ‘The Borden Gold Project – lessons learned from the ‘mine of the future’ and the crucial role of partnerships in building an all-electric underground mine’.

The major mining representation does not end there.

Samantha Espley, Director of the Technology & Innovation Centre for Mining and Mineral Processing, Vale Base Metals Operations, will chart the mining company’s roadmap to underground electrification in Sudbury during her talk; expect the OEMs in the room to ask questions about the future fleet for the Creighton deep zone!

Caterpillar’s Product Manager for Underground Technology Solutions, Jay Armburger, is also set to take to the stage at the Radisson Admiral. The focus of his talk will be on heat generation, comparing battery and diesel LHDs underground. A few passing references to the proof of concept R1300G LHD trials it ran not all that long ago at an underground mine in Sudbury, Canada (pictured, right), are likely.

We’ll also hear about developments above ground.

A joint presentation from Karl Trudeau (Nouveau Monde Graphite), Michel Serres (ABB Canada) and David Lyon (MEDATECH) will shed some light on what it will take to create an all-electric open-pit mine able to produce 100,000 t of graphite concentrate at NMG’s Matawinie project in Quebec, Canada.

Those three speakers could be in the front row for Per-Erik Lindström’s talk on The Electric Site project in Sweden.

Lindström, Vice President Global Key Account Management for Volvo Construction Equipment, has seen first hand how battery-electric equipment can move the needle in terms of cost and emissions at the Skanska Vikan Cross quarry, just outside of Gothenburg, and there are more than a few miners interested in the prototype machines (pictured, left) the OEM has manufactured for this purpose.

These presentations will be complemented by a talk from Heather Ednie, Managing Director, Global Mining Guidelines Group, on the second edition of the group’s Battery Electric Vehicle guideline; an opening keynote from Ali G. Madiseh, Canada Research Chair in Advanced Mine Energy Systems, Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia, titled: ‘The Electric Mine: a new norm in mine energy systems’; Erik Isokangas, Program Director, Mining3, discussing the value proposition for autonomous electric haulage; and Doug Morrison, President and CEO, Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), looking at electrification to maximise productive capacity.

Meanwhile, Justin Bain, Chief Executive Officer, Energetique (Energy/Mobility), will fly in from Australia to pronounce the death of diesel Down Under – his firm has recently been involved in the conversion of diesel utility vehicles to battery-electric drive.

Along similar lines, Paul Miller, of Miller Technology, will talk about what goes into developing an innovative fully-electric light utility automobile, designed for continuous underground operation.

IM then has two behemoths in the mine power sector, Siemens and Schneider Electric, looking at the all-important infrastructure that goes into electrification.

Dr Bappa Banerjee, General Manager, Mining Equipment, GE Transportation, will look at the electric future for load and haul in his keynote, Mathieu Bouffard, Project Manager, Adria Manufacture, will cover battery charging and power management of battery-electric vehicles, and Don Duval, CEO of NORCAT, will showcase some of the new technologies that have come out of the organisation’s Underground Centre in Sudbury.

This speaker line-up is only set to improve as we move into the New Year, with IM in advanced discussions with more OEMs and miners looking to present.

The first global event on mine electrification continues to charge ahead…

If you’d like to hear more about The Electric Mine conference – including presenting and sponsorship opportunities – please feel free to get in contact with Editorial Director Paul Moore ([email protected]) or Editor Dan Gleeson ([email protected]).

To view the full speaker line-up, venue details and to take advantage of the soon-to-expire Early Bird attendance rate, please visit the event homepage here.

Vale gets hands on iron ore beneficiation technology with New Steel purchase

Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Steel and iron ore, , , ,

Vale has entered into an agreement with Hankoe FIP to buy innovative iron ore beneficiation technology provider, New Steel, for $500 million.

New Steel currently owns patents of dry processing concentration (fines dry magnetic separation) in 56 countries, which is expected to support Vale’s development of high-grade pellet feed initiatives.

Vale said the transaction was expected to close in 2019, subject to certain conditions precedent, including approval by antitrust authorities in Brazil.

One project that is expected to benefit from this acquisition is Vale’s 20 Mt/y Southeastern System pellet feed project, the company said.

Vale Canada set for Sudbury emissions cut with Clean AER operation

Base metals, Energy minerals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, , , , , , ,

Vale’s Sudbury, Canada, operations are set for an 85% reduction in sulphur dioxide emissions after the Brazil-based company completed its C$1 billion ($792 million) Clean AER (Atmospheric Emission Reduction) project.

The project is the largest single environmental investment in Sudbury’s history and, on top of the sulphur dioxide emission cut, will also see metal particulate emissions come down 40%, according to Vale.

Work began on the project in 2012 and included the construction of two new converters, a wet gas cleaning plant, a new secondary baghouse and fan building and reconstruction of the smelter converter flues. Due to close coordination between the project and operations, this construction took place safely while the Copper Cliff smelter continued to operate.

Ricus Grimbeek, Chief Operating Officer of Vale’s North Atlantic Base Metals Operations and Asian Refineries, said: “The completion of our Clean AER project is a historic milestone that demonstrates how far we have come as a company in reducing our environmental footprint.”

Emissions are set to come down so significantly with the project that Vale’s Sudbury operations will no longer require its iconic “Superstack”, according to Dave Stefanuto, Vale’s Vice President of North Atlantic Projects.

The Superstack is the tallest chimney in Canada and the Western hemisphere, measuring in at 380 m. It entered full operation in 1972.

Two new 137 m stacks are currently being constructed in the Copper Cliff smelter, which will require far less energy to operate than the Superstack and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the smelter by some 40%, Vale said. Following construction of the concrete shells, steel liners will be installed in the new stacks in 2019.

In 2020, the Superstack’s steel liner will be removed and the Superstack will be taken out of service and placed on care and maintenance. It is expected that removal of the concrete shell will begin thereafter and continue over several years.

Vale’s operations in Sudbury are home to one of the largest integrated mining complexes in the world with five mines, a mill, a smelter and a nickel refinery.