July 4, 2010 - The end to a long-running and bitter strike in Ontario is in sight as mining giant Vale announced it reached a tentative agreement with production and maintenance workers on Sunday.  The metals miner says the agreement involves a new five-year contract with United Steel Workers Locals 6500 and 6200, which represent production and maintenance employees in Sudbury and Port Colborne.  “It's been a long strike and I think that both sides worked hard,” said Cory McPhee, vice-president of corporate affairs.  “Both sides wanted a deal and that ultimately was the driving force to this outcome.”   Comprehensive memorandums of agreement are to be signed between Vale and the USW in Sudbury and Port Colborne on Monday.  The deal contains a return-to-work protocol, but Vale says it is still unclear when the employees will be returning to work.  “I can't comment on timing,” Mr. McPhee said. “Once the vote process is sorted out, we'll begin bringing people back to work.”  The union will now present the deal to the membership and ratification votes will be scheduled.  “Suffice to say, we're very happy to have a deal done,” Mr. McPhee said.  The announcement comes just days after Ontario Labour Minister Peter Fonseca said the two sides had agreed to resume bargaining.  Before reaching an impasse, the two sides had agreed on all issues except one – the firing of eight workers during the strike and whether they were entitled to arbitration.  A statement from Mr. Fonseca had said the impasse on the issue was not acceptable to the communities involved nor to the government.  Mr. McPhee wouldn't say how the issue was dealt with but confirmed that it had been resolved.  “We were able to come together and get over that hurdle.”  Vale says the settlements were reached with the help of mediators Kevin Burkett and Reg Pearson.  More than 3,000 production and maintenance workers at Vale's Ontario operations in Sudbury and Port Colborne have been on strike since July 13.  Key issues included a nickel bonus, job transfers, contracting out and pensions.   Vale's nickel business employs more than 11,000 people worldwide and had net sales of $3.26-billion last year, accounting for 13.6 per cent of Vale's overall revenue.

July 1, 2010 - A hazardous material leak alert at a Sudbury, Ont., chemical plant Thursday morning was the result of a plume of sulphuric acid that was accidentally released into the air during a transfer, according to a press release from Vale Sudbury.  The "noticeable" cloud of sulphuric acid "was released into the environment and escaped off property before dissipating over the Kelly Lake area," the press release said.  The spill was due to overfilling a rail car, the company said.  The alert was issued at 11:19 a.m. — about three hours after the leak happened.  The leak itself was contained and downgraded at 8:40 a.m.  "No injuries have been reported as a result of this incident," the release states. "The cause for this incident is currently under investigation."  Steve Ball, a spokesperson for Vale, said there was no risk to the public.  Ball apologized for the "late issuance" of the information.  He said residents in the area have received letters and information in the past about how to respond when the hazardous material leak alert happens, and that information is released to the public as soon as it is possible.

May 28, 2010 - Just like that, an iconic name with more than 100 years of history in Canadian business is gone.  Thursday, Brazilian mining giant Vale SA announced it is removing the name "Inco" from its nickel business, less than four years after it paid nearly $20-billion for the Canadian miner. It comes as Vale's relations with the former Inco employees in Canada are poor.  In a statement, Vale said that scrapping the Inco name is a "natural evolution" of the company and aligns it more fully with Vale's other mining operations around the world. It marks the official end to a name that dates back to 1902 and has been synonymous with Canada's leadership role in the global nickel business, a role that some economic nationalists believe it has lost.  When Vale acquired Inco in 2006, it decided to keep the Inco brand as it made a major commitment to Canada.  "There were a lot of good reasons to keep the name," said Vale spokesman Cory McPhee. "One was a nod to the heritage of the company, which had more than a hundred years of existence. The other was from a marketing standpoint. The Inco nickel carried a premium in the market because of its quality."  Mr. McPhee added the connection between Vale and Inco has become well-known over time, and the company wanted the entire organization to be brought under the "Vale" brand. That has been the goal since it rebranded itself as Vale in late 2007. (It was previously known as CVRD.)  Vale's acquisition of Inco was the biggest takeover to date by a Latin American company. At the time, Vale chief executive Roger Agnelli said the transaction was "good for Inco and good for Canada."

July 13, 2009 – Vale S.A. (Vale) informs that the unionized maintenance and production employees at its operations in Sudbury and Port Colborne, province of Ontario, Canada, went on strike today after rejecting the company’s settlement offer for a new three-year collective bargaining agreement.  Our proposal aims to provide the right incentives to labor productivity growth and to enhance the foundations of our long-term competitiveness and capacity to continue to generate value.  The strike affects 3,073 employees at our integrated mining, milling, smelting and refining operations in Sudbury, and 116 employees at our Port Colborne refinery.  In 2008, finished nickel production originated from the Sudbury operations reached 85,300 metric tons, 31% of Vale’s total output. Our Port Colborne facility produces platinum group metals, gold and silver intermediate products.  As previously disclosed, the Sudbury and Port Colborne operations began an eight-week shutdown on June 1, 2009, and were scheduled to resume operations on July 27, 2009.

July 13, 2009 - Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund announced that Chemtrade's supply of sulphuric acid and liquid sulphur dioxide to its customers will not be affected by the labour disruption at Vale Inco's nickel mining and processing facilities at Sudbury.  Mark Davis, President and CEO of Chemtrade, said, "Prior to Vale Inco's announcement in April of an extended shutdown we began building inventory to ensure that supply to our customers was protected. While Chemtrade's product supply of acid from Vale Inco ceased on May 9 and will not resume until the smelter is restarted, we will continue to supply our customers from inventory, our own sulphuric acid manufacturing facilities as well as sourcing from other suppliers. We will continue to review the situation but currently anticipate that we will be able to keep our customers supplied until Vale Inco resumes production."

April 16, 2009 - Major nickel mining operations in Sudbury, Ont., will come to a standstill for the first time in more than a century this summer after Brazil's Vale Inco announced plans to shutter its Sudbury mines and smelters for two months.  Blaming the devastating downturn in nickel prices and plunging demand for the metal used to make stainless steel, Vale Inco parent Companhia Vale do Rio Doce [RIO-N] said late Thursday it will close its five operating Sudbury mines and its entire suite of nickel processing operations in June and July.   Vale Inco spokesman Cory McPhee said there is no longer sufficient demand for all the nickel the company produces from its Sudbury operations.  “The pipeline is full. We are not selling all the nickel we produce in Ontario and so this allows us to clear the pipeline. …When we return to work we are going to be in a much better position,” Mr. McPhee said.  About 5,000 Vale Inco employees will be affected. Mr. McPhee said the company will mandate employees to use their vacation time during the shutdown, but will likely have to issue temporary layoff notices.  The planned shutdowns follow Xstrata Nickel's recent decision to shutter its mining operations in Sudbury, save for a development mine that won't reach full production until 2010.   Xstrata laid off 686 workers at its Sudbury operations in February when it put its two operating mines on care and maintenance.  It continues to construct the Nickel Rim South mine in the Northern Ontario city that has been the world's largest nickel mining centre since the early 1900's.  In December, Vale Inco closed its Copper Cliff South mine in Sudbury. It recently said it is cutting 900 jobs including 350 in Canada.   Vale and Xstrata were the respective victors in a heated takeover battle for Canadian mining stalwarts Inco and Falconbridge in 2006 and 2007. The foreign mining giants paid more than $40-billion combined for the Canadian companies.  In order to win Ottawa's approval for the takeovers, both Vale and Xstrata promised not to lay off workers for three years.  The price of nickel reached record highs above $23 (U.S.) a pound shortly after the buyouts. It has since fallen to about $5.50 a pound.