Voisey Bay - Grimes/Inco moves CUV have an interest in South Voisey's Bay 90km south of Voisey's Bay, hopefully when the INCO action gets started we will see some movement in the South Voisey Bay area?
April 12, 2001
Voisey's Bay talks to resume within 60 days
New technology planned
Michael MacDonald
The Canadian Press
Copyright © 2001 National Post Online
National Post Online is a Hollinger / CanWest Publication.
Joe Gibbons, The Canadian Press
Newfoundland's Lloyd Matthews.
ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. - Formal negotiations on development of the $4.3-billion Voisey's Bay mine in Labrador should resume within the next 60 days, Newfoundland's Mines Minister said yesterday.
And it appears the government and Inco Ltd., the mining giant that owns the vast nickel deposit, will pick up where they left off after then premier Brian Tobin walked away from the table last year.
Lloyd Matthews, in a speech to the St. John's Board of Trade, described a two-phase project that would start with construction of a $180-million "demonstration" plant.
That plant would be used to test a relatively new type of processing technology known as hydrometallurgy, which is less expensive and friendlier to the environment than traditional smelting technology, he said.
The second phase would involve construction of a $1-billion, full-scale processing plant in the Argentia area of southeastern Newfoundland.
"This is the concept that the company has indicated they would likely be wishing to follow," Mr. Matthews said after his speech.
The two-phase approach is essentially the same proposal that was on the table last year when talks were suspended.
Mr. Tobin scuttled the formal negotiations when Inco refused to drop a clause that would give the company the right to ship ore out of the province if the pilot plant proved that a full-scale project would be unfeasible.
When asked yesterday if the province was prepared to sign a deal that included such a clause, Mr. Matthews left the door open.
"All of these issues are part of the discussion that we will be entering into," he said. "I'm not going to prejudge what will come of the negotiations."
Earlier, Mr. Matthews spelled out why the project is so important to Newfoundland, which continues to suffer from the highest unemployment rate in the country.
The first phase of the project would be comparable to building another oil refinery like the one at Come By Chance, or another pulp mill like the one owned by Kruger in Corner Brook.
Employment during the four-year construction period could reach 700 positions. As many as 800 would work at the mine and another 400 at the processing facility.
Total spending for the project is expected to hit $3-billion during the 30-year life of the mine, Mr. Matthews said.
But first, there has to be a deal.
The Voisey's Bay project has been on hold for several years as both sides have continued to haggle over where and how the ore should be processed.
Toronto-based Inco, the largest nickel producer in the Western world, had initially said it would build a traditional, $1-billion smelter in Newfoundland, but the company later reneged on that pledge.
With Voisey's Bay on hold, the company moved on to expanding its other operations in Canada, the South Pacific and Indonesia to supply growing markets around the world.
Inco reported profit of US$400-million on sales of US$2.9-billion last year, the company's best financial performance in a decade. That compares with earnings of US$12-million on sales of US$2.1-billion in 1999.
Copyright © 2001 National Post Online
National Post Online is a Hollinger / CanWest Publication.