FEATURED MINING COMPANY

VALE

CANADA

Thompson, Manitoba: Vale's Manitoba Operations, located in Thompson, Manitoba, is comprised of two underground operations -- Thompson Mine and Birchtree Mine, as well as Thompson Open Pit.

Our Manitoba Operations were the world’s first fully integrated nickel mining and processing complex and has produced four billion pounds of nickel in its 50 years of operation.

Thompson, with a population of some 15,000, has grown to become Manitoba’s third largest city. Although its beginnings were the result of an agreement in 1956 between what was then the International Nickel Company of Canada and the Province of Manitoba, it has developed into a major northern transportation hub.

 A major highway system, rail line, seaplane base and airport all provide goods and services to northern remote communities. In fact, the Thompson airport is the second busiest in Manitoba.

Newfoundland and Labrador: The negotiated agreements entered into in early October 2002 (and amended in January 2009) consist of a Development Agreement and an Industrial and Employment Benefits Agreement.

Three years later, in the fall of 2005, operations in Labrador came onstream some eight months ahead of schedule. Currently, concentrate from Vale Newfoundland and Labrador is shipped to Vale's Ontario Operations in Sudbury and Manitoba Operations in Thompson, Manitoba, for processing.
A processing plant is under construction in Long Harbour, Newfoundland and is scheduled to commence operation in Newfoundland in 2013.

INDONESIA

PT Inco, Indonesia: Although Dutch explorers sampled the nickel laterite near Lake Matano on Sulawesi Island in the early 1900s, it was not until 1968 that PT Inco officially began operations in Indonesia. That was the year our subsidiary PT Inco signed a Contract of Work agreement with the Indonesian government that granted us mining rights in the provinces of South, Southeast and Central Sulawesi.  

Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie:  is a world-class mining project and a key part of Vale's growth strategy. It is located on the South Pacific island of New Caledonia, an overseas territorial community of France. Nouvelle-Calédonie is among the best undeveloped laterite orebodies in the world, with excellent average grades, 55 million tonnes of estimated measured and indicated mineral reserves, and a very large resource base. The expected annual capacity of the Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie project is 60,000 metric tonnes of nickel and 4,300 to 5,000 metric tonnes of cobalt.

Vale holds a 69 percent interest in the Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie project. The three provinces of New Caledonia hold a 10 percent equity interest in the project, through their holding company Société de Participation Minière du Sud Calédonien (SPMSC) ensuring that the people of New Caledonia participate in and directly benefit from Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie.

Through a jointly owned company called Sumic Nickel Netherlands, Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. and Mitsui Co. Ltd. own the remaining 21 per cent interest in the project.