Vale shares mining industry plans for Greater Sudbury at chamber luncheon

The Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon in Sudbury on Thursday with mining giant Vale as the primary focus.

More than 100 people in the industry attended the event at the Holiday Inn.

Gord Gilpin, head of local Vale operations, was the guest speaker. He said, with the prevalence of battery electric vehicles on the rise, the industry has a bright future.

GREAT NEWS FOR SUDBURY

“Given the energy transition that’s going around the world, how it’s driving the demand for battery electric vehicles and in order to get that, what we have at Vale is the base metals to build that, most specifically nickel,” Gilpin said.

“For Sudbury, it’s great news.”

Some highlights of the presentation included Vale’s ongoing commitment to responsible mining and Indigenous communities. There were also discussions about the plan to deepen the Creighton Mine and a partnership with Laurentian University’s Mirarco to invest in biomining.

“I see a bright future ahead for the community,” Gilpin said.

This year, Gilpin told the crowd, Vale has invested $67 million in mining exploration in Sudbury. It’s part of a five-year $125 million dollar investment in mining in Canada.

“Exploration is basically filling our pipeline of mines in the future,” Gilpin said.

“Mines do have a finite life, we’re very fortunate here in Sudbury we’ve had some operations going on for over a hundred years, but mines do come to an end of life and we do need to fill the pipeline.”

The chamber of commerce said Vale’s proposed future plans sound promising.

“I’m very hopeful for the employees that work at Vale and the mining supply companies that rely on them for their businesses as well,” said Geoff Hatton with the chamber.

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SUDBURY SKYLINE TO BE FOREVER CHANGED

In terms of when the Superstack will be taken down, Gilpin said it’s too early in planning to answer that question.

“As time progresses, that date gets a little closer,” he said.

“We’re still at an early stage project answering that questions, but I would say stay tuned and you’re likely to see some changes in the skyline sometime in the future, not too far away.”