Toronto, Ontario, Canada-based Vale Inco’s Ontario Operations have growth projects in 20 countries and a marketing network in more than 40 countries. “In terms of nickel reserves, we’re the largest in the world,” Ontario Operations Vice President of Mines Brian Maynard asserts. “Last year, we produced 250 million pounds of nickel and 269 million pounds of copper.” The company also generates its own hydroelectric power.

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As the leading producer of nickel in the world, Vale Inco has been operating continuously for more than a century. Its roots were planted with the establishment of the International Nickel Co. of Canada in 1902.

The story begins when the International Nickel Co. was established in Camden, N.J., as a joint venture between Canadian Copper, Orford Copper and American Nickel Works. In 1916, the International Nickel Co. of Canada Ltd. was incorporated as the operating company in Copper Cliff, near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

In 1918, the company built a new refinery in Port Colborne, Ontario. The following year, the International Nickel Co. of Canada began trading under the name Inco.

In 1929, the corporation underwent a major expansion after it acquired Mond Nickel Co., a British company. Shortly thereafter, a head office was established in Toronto. In 1972, the Inco Superstack was built in Sudbury. Four years later, the company officially changed its name to Inco Ltd.

Today, the Toronto, Ontario, Canada-based company has operations and growth projects in 20 countries and a marketing network of more than 40 countries.     

Its parent company, Vale – or Companhia Vale do Rio Doce – is the second-largest mining company in the world by market capitalization, and is a large producer of iron ore, pellets and nickel. The Brazilian miner acquired Inco in September 2006 for approximately $17 billion. “We are an important producer of copper, precious metals and cobalt,” Vale Inco states.

However, “in terms of nickel reserves, we’re the largest in the world,” Ontario Operations Vice President of Mines Brian Maynard asserts. “Last year, we produced 250 million pounds of nickel and 269 million pounds of copper.

“Our responsibilities [for our Ontario operations] include six operating mines, a mill, a smelter and refineries in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario; Acton, England; and Clydach, Wales. “This year, we set a production target of 298 million pounds of nickel, and that’s an all-time record for us,” according to Maynard.

The company’s strategic plans for 2008 include allotting $600 million for capital expenditures, Maynard says. “The market is very good,” he notes.     

“We’re experiencing one of the largest periods of capital investment and growth in over 35 years. With nickel hovering between $12 and $13 a pound, it’s a good time to invest in asset integrity to make sure we stay competitive in all price cycles.”

Mine Projects
Vale Inco’s Ontario operations include six mines and the Gertrude Open Pit in Ontario’s Sudbury basin, which is 35 kilometers long and 70 kilometers wide. It is believed that the Sudbury basin was created by the impact of a meteorite 1.85 billion years ago.

Vale Inco’s Sudbury mining projects are:

• Copper Cliff North Mine – Said to be one of the deepest mines in Canada, this is Vale’s flagship mine, in that it began operations in 1901. Despite its age, in 2004, the company announced that the mine had an estimated 20 years of reserves remaining.
• Copper Cliff South Mine – When Vale Inco’s mining reached existing shaft bottoms, it caused operating costs to skyrocket. Thus, feasibility studies were conducted to evaluate the possibility of a new 10,000-ton-per-day hoisting plant and a shaft sunk to 5,600 feet, with the potential to deepen to 7,000 feet for exploration.
• Copper Cliff Deepening – In 2007, the company announced its $45 million project to deepen the Copper Cliff mine site was approved for feasibility and execution work. “It is a deep new mine shaft in between two existing mines [Copper Cliff North and Copper Cliff South] that will utilize the latest technology in order to help us be more cost-competitive,” Maynard notes. The large-scale portion of the project has not been submitted to the board for approval yet, he says.
• Creighton Mine – This is an existing mine that has been in operation for more than 100 years. Vale Inco’s current estimates show that by deepening it, the mine’s potential will nearly double the proven and probable reserves from 17 million tons to 32 million tons, which translates to a 29-year life expectancy at current mining rates.
• Coleman Mine – In December 2007, Vale Inco announced a $132 million investment for a development project in the 170 Orebody at Coleman Mine. The 170 orebody is a high-grade copper and precious metals deposit within the existing Coleman Mine. The investment represents more than 12,000 feet of lateral development and is expected to yield 2 million ton of ore for more than a decade. Maynard says it will provide 75 full-time jobs once full production commences in 2012.
• Stobie Mine – Located on the south side of the Sudbury Basin, the Stobie Mine produces copper, nickel and precious metals. It mines ore from six zones with two shafts. On average, the mine extracts 3 million metric tons of ore annually.
• Garson Mine – The Garson Mine was first developed in the early 20th century by Mond Nickel Co. It won the John T. Ryan Trophy in 2005 for its safety practices, which is considered a feat in the industry, given that the ground conditions at Garson are notoriously difficult. In 2006, a $30 million project was approved to build the Garson Ramp, which began producing in 2007. Vale Inco says it has produced 1.4 million tons thus far and has potential for extensions.
  

Totten to Reopen
In addition, Vale Inco has opted to invest $400 million in reopening its Totten Mine, the first mine in Sudbury in 35 years. “The mine was closed in 1970, but we are reopening it through a capital project with production slated to begin in late 2010,” Maynard says. “The mine will create 150 jobs for the community.”

In addition, Vale Inco has formed an agreement with the Nishnawbee Sagamok First Nations, which will entail providing possible employment opportunities for their people. Totten has an expected life span of 20 years, according to Maynard.

Clean and Safe
Addressing safety and environmental stewardship are two additional strategic goals Vale Inco is addressing this year, according to Maynard. “Our goal is a healthy and safe workplace for all our employees,” the company stresses. “At every level of our organization, we are constantly working to improve our health and safety performance and to deliver on the health and safety goals we set for ourselves.”

For the past three years, the company has been awarded the national John T. Ryan Award for Safest Metal Mine in Canada for its Birchtree Mine in Thompson, Manitobaas, as well as its Garson Mine and North Mine in Sudbury. Awarded by Mine Safety Appliances Canada Ltd., the annual awards are given to the metalliferous mine, the select mine and the coal mine in Canada which experienced the lowest accident frequencies.

In addition, in January, employees at Copper Cliff North Mine celebrated three years of being disabling-injury-free, which was “a milestone virtually unprecedented in the industry,” the company asserts.

Vale Inco also considers itself a leader in energy efficiency, Maynard adds. As proof, the company has been recognized as a leader by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) and the Chief Energy Conservation Officer. The OPA implements conservation programs, invests in new supply infrastructure, performs long-term electricity system planning and develops sustainable electricity systems.

Despite a 21 percent increase in production, Vale Inco has reduced its annual energy consumption levels by 10 percent over its 1990 levels. In fact, it has seen a 90 percent reduction in SO2 emissions in Sudbury since 1970. It intends to reduce its emissions below 66 kilotons by 2015.

Its energy saving program, Powerplay, has resulted in more than $60 million in company savings since it was implemented in 2000. “Vale Inco also self-generates its own hydroelectric power – 55 megawatts – which typically meets 20 percent of our power needs in Ontario,” the company says.

Vale Inco spends between $5 million and $10 million each year on re-greening Sudbury, it says. This includes the contribution of 75,000 trees to the city that are planted annually.

For its $4.5 million “slag re-greening project,” the second phase of which took place in summer 2007, the company moved 300,000 tons of slag across 18 acres and hydroseeded the area. In addition, “we operate an underground greenhouse at Creighton Mine to support our environmental efforts,” Vale Inco states.

TSM Initiative
The company is a signatory to the Mining Association of Canada’s Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative, which aims to improve the performance of mining companies and their ability to manage social and environmental issues in Canada.

“To achieve this, we engage in the exploration, discovery, development, production, distribution and recycling of these products,” the Mining Association of Canada says. “We believe that our opportunities to contribute to and thrive in the economics in which we operate must be earned through a demonstrated commitment to sustainable development.”

Vale Inco utilizes an integrated management system for all its environmental, health and safety issues. It is compatible with both ISO 14001 and OHS 18001 standards. The company addresses health, safety and environmental concerns in all its projects. “We have identified best practices through environmental assessment processes and are designing these projects to have a minimum impact on the environment during construction and operation phases,” it explains.

“In our existing operations, where in some cases we have been operating for over a century, we are implementing measures to deal responsibly with legacy issues where they exist and are working to ensure that we can meet and surpass the standards that are expected of us in our day-to-day operations.”

Community Ties
Vale Inco has always maintained close ties with the Sudbury community, it says. Approximately 5,000 of the city’s 157,857 residents are Vale Inco employees, and more than 10,000 are company pensioners. In addition, “we support a cross-section of programs in healthcare, education, social services and the arts, helping to make Sudbury a better place to live,” the company says. “Vale Inco also makes major financial contributions that support Sudbury’s goal of achieving economic diversity.

“As a socially responsible company, Vale Inco is committed to the well-being of our employees and to the communities around the world where our people work and live,” it continues. “In practice, this means providing a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace, one that champions fairness and offers opportunity.

“It also means helping to advance the quality of life in the villages, towns and regions where we operate by working in partnership with diverse stakeholders and providing an active corporate contributions programs.” In 2006 and 2007, Vale Inco contributed to the following Sudbury causes:

• $5 million to the Centre of Excellence in Mining Innovation, which supports research and development for the industry, including deep mining methods
• $4.5 million to the Living With Lakes Centre, which supports research for freshwater restoration efforts
• $2 million to the Norcat Innovation and Commercialization Park, a facility for small and medium enterprises to develop new technologies, products and processes
• $500,000 to the Northern Ontario Medical School at Laurentian University in Sudbury
• $375,000 to the Sudbury Food Bank
  

“We have been a long-time supporter of Science North, northern Ontario’s most popular tourist attraction and an educational resource for children and adults across the province,” the company says. In 1981, it donated $5 million to the facility, which was the largest corporate donation to a community project in Canadian history up to that point.

In March, Vale Inco donated $100,000 to Easter Seals Ontario at an event to celebrate the beginning of Easter Seals Month in Sudbury. The donation consists of $50,000 from Vale Inco’s corporate office in Toronto and $50,000 from its Sudbury operations, and will be used to support local Easter Seal Activities, such as purchasing equipment, providing better access to  resources, as well as a kids’ camp and recreational programs.

“Vale Inco has a long-standing relationship with Easter Seals and through that partnership, we continue to do our part to help those young heroes reach their full potential,” President of Ontario Operations Fred Stanford said in a statement.

Fishing the Talent Pool
Vale Inco intends to increase its work force by 500 people this year. This is a challenge for the company as “our current work force has enough seniority that they can retire today,” Maynard notes. “It’s a huge issue; it’s pretty much a daily topic, so we’ve grown our employment office to try to expand the talent pool.”

As a solution, the company works with agencies such as Norcat and Cambrian College to “make sure skilled trades programs – including the electrical, mechanical, industrial and instrumentation trades – are kept up to date through benchmarking,” Maynard says. “Along with that, we’ve taken an old mine and rehabilitated it so we can start to train new mine employees. We are taking young people from other industries and training them how to be miners from scratch.”

Vale Inco needs a larger work force to carry through its long-term plans, Maynard explains. “We carry long-range plans that go out beyond 20 years,” he notes. “We’re constantly working at making sure those plans include profitable reserves in order to keep our processing plants full.

“Along with that comes the challenge of mining deeper and farther away from our production shafts,” Maynard continues. “So, the technology changes that occur in the industry that might be of use to us are under constant surveillance, and that’s when the market is at its best.”