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.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Thompson is facing an uncertain future with nickel giant Vale potentially ready to sell its operations in the northern city. Quoting company executives, Reuters reports Vale plans to sell underperforming assets to control costs and boost profit. Nickel mines in Canada are among the assets that may be sold in whole or in part, the news agency reported Oct. 25. Luciano Siani, Vale's chief financial officer, told Reuters Vale's tolerance for losses at several of its nickel projects is near an end. Vale, the report noted, got most of those assets in 2006 when it paid about $17 billion for Inco, which formerly owned the Thompson nickel operations. The news comes as Vale announces that its Birchtree mine in Thompson may be placed on 'care and maintenance' _ meaning it would temporarily or permanently close _ in August 2013. At the same time, the Thompson 1-D mining project 'will not be proceeding along the timeline originally envisioned,' Vale said in a notice to employees. The 1-D mineral resources, however, remains an important part of a mining and milling future for Thompson, Vale said. In the near-term future the plan is to continue drilling at 1-D to better delineate and define the mineral resource at depth. Ryan Land, corporate affairs manager for Vale's Manitoba Operations, said Vale remains 'committed to our operations here in Thompson.' 'Having said that, our nickel operations here face some significant short-term challenges with a weakening market and lower-than-anticipated commodity prices,' Land said. 'The same is true for diversified miners operating around the world _ it's not unique to Vale. 'We understand that the care and maintenance scenario being considered for Birchtree mine is not the news the community wanted to hear, but it is representative of the challenges we face and the decisions we need to make if we are to position ourselves for decidedly more positive longer-term outlook. The only way to achieve that future for our operations in Thompson is to control costs and improve efficiencies in all aspects of our business. That's the challenge we've taken on.' _ With files from John Barker, Thompson Citizen
