Sudden death at Vale's Sudbury smelter

Sudbury -

Sudbury police and the Ministry of Labour are investigating a sudden death at Vale's smelter in the Greater Sudbury community of Copper Cliff.

Police received a call shortly after 2 p.m. on Tuesday about a fatality at the local mine.

"Information provided was that a 54-year-old man was found unconscious with no vital signs," Kaitlyn Dunn, a spokesperson for Greater Sudbury Police Service said in an email to CTV News. "Individuals on scene began life-saving measures which were taken over by City of Greater Sudbury paramedics when they arrived on scene. Unfortunately, the man was pronounced deceased on scene."

Officials with Vale said the man was working for an external contractor at the Fluid Bed Roaster Baghouse of the Matte Processing facility.

CTV's Alana Everson reports the man was involved in work being done on a baghouse, a confined vessel used to collect dust while processing nickel at the smelter. Sources say he was found unresponsive in a rest area outside of a building.

An autopsy is scheduled to determine the cause of death, which is unknown at this time.

The name of the contractor is being withheld out of respect for the family.

"Our thoughts are with the family, co-workers and friends of this individual," said Dino Otranto, chief operating officer of Vale’s North Atlantic operations, in a statement Tuesday evening. "We are doing everything we can to support them and to better understand what happened during this incident."

Vale is offering services of its Critical Incident Stress Management Team to the employees and contractors who were working in the area, as well as the Vale employees that responded to the scene.