Vale resuming Sudbury operations, says no 2012 production impact

Brazillian miner Vale SA said Tuesday it is gradually resuming mining at its underground nickel operations in Sudbury, Canada.

After a mining fatality on 29 January at its Coleman Mine, the fourth worker to have died over the last year at its Canadian mines, the company shut down all eight mines in the region to assess safety procedures.

Vale closed the the Coleman Mine, Stoibe Mine, Creighton Mine and the Garson and Copper Cliff Mines. About 1,550 miners were off work with pay.

Fox Business reports:

The Sudbury mines accounted for nearly a third of Vale’s total nickel metal output of 58,000 metric tons in the third quarter last year. They also accounted for about a third of its copper output, nearly half its cobalt and its entire platinum, palladium, gold and silver output.

Mining Weekly reports:

Vale reiterated on Tuesday that the temporary work halt at its Sudbury nickel mines following a January 29 fatality would not impact annual production, as the operations ramped up to full production by the end of the month.

Vale said at the time of the closures that there had been a string of accidents in the last three months worldwide with one accident occurring in Colombia, three in Brazil and one in Guinea, in addition to the Sudbury death. Vale employs around 119,000 workers around the globe.

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