The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Thompson has dodged an economic bullet with word the Birchtree mine is no longer scheduled to be placed on care and maintenance this August. Lovro Paulic, vice-president of Manitoba operations for nickel giant Vale, made the announcement in a memo to employees last week. Vale had announced last October that care and maintenance was being considered for Birchtree in 10 months time, leaving Thompson in a state of suspended animation of sorts. The mine, which opened in 1968, was previously on care and maintenance from 1977 to 1989. The current life-of-mine plan anticipates a closure at some point in the next 10 years. Vale, which is trying to cut $100 million in costs at its Thompson operations, says it has achieved 90 per cent of that goal over the last eight months _ with $10 million still to go. The reprieve for Birchtree Mine comes 'as a direct result of our collective efforts' to achieve those cost savings, Paulic wrote to employees. Vale is also looking to 'secure a strategic investor' to more quickly develop its 1-D Lower ore body, a Thompson area project first announced in 2005. The ore body is a complex structure and traditional bulk mining methods will not produce ore economically. 'Pursuing an investment partner will enable us to move forward with unlocking the full potential of the resource more quickly than otherwise would be possible,' Paulic wrote. Drilling at 1-D continued over last winter to better delineate and define the resource at depth. Paulic's memo made no mention of Thompson's smelter and refinery, which could close as early as January 2015 _ or a year or so later _ depending on several factors. Vale is on record as saying it wants to keep the smelter and refinery open until Dec. 31, 2015. To do that, the company would need to gain an exemption from federal pollution guidelines taking effect in January of 2015. Another factor is how quickly Vale's new processing facility in Newfoundland and Labrador ramps up over the next few months. Some limited processing as early as September is possible at the plant. Vale is building the state-of-the-art processing facility in Long Harbour in southeast Newfoundland on Placentia Bay. It will process nickel concentrate produced in Newfoundland that is currently processed in Thompson. _ÊJohn Barker, Thompson Citizen
