Vale commits $150 million to extend Manitoba nickel mines life

Vale (NYSE: VALE) is investing $150 million (US$122 million) to extend by ten years its mining activities in the Canadian province of Manitoba.

The figure, the company’s largest single investment made at its Thompson nickel operations, will also be allocated to continuing exploration in the area to search for new deposits that hold the promise of mining well past 2040.

Dino Otranto, chief operating officer for Vale’s North Atlantic base metals operations, said the investment was just one part of the company’s ambitious Thompson turnaround story.

“[We have a] plan that will enable us to extract the Thompson nickel resources for many years to come,” he said in a press release.

The extension of Vale’s current operations is planned as a two-staged project, with the first phase set to include critical infrastructure work, such as new ventilation raises and fans, increased backfill capacity and additional power distribution.

The company, the world’s largest nickel producer, said that phase-one changes are expected to improve current production by 30%.

“The global movement to electric vehicles, renewable energies and carbon reduction has shone a welcome spotlight on nickel–positioning the metal we mine as a key contributor to a greener future and boosting world demand,” Mark Travers, executive vice-president for base metals, noted.

The Thompson orebody was first discovered in 1956 by Vale, which was then known as Inco, following the adoption of new exploration technology and the largest exploration program to date in the company’s history. Mining began in 1961.