It’s been a long time in the planning but the announcement by Vale Inco means ground will be broken in 2009 on a new hydromet nickel processing facility at Longer Harbour, Newfoundland. The plant will process Voisey’s Bay nickel.
The news is welcomed in the region, especially with employment figures of 1,600+ during the 3-year construction phase and estimates of 450 full time production employees being tossed around, but there are still questions that need to be answered.
When former premier Brian Tobin was in office he promised the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, in reference to the minerals at Voisey’s Bay, “…not one teaspoon will leave the province for processing”.
Eventually, after much negotiation, a deal was struck by Mr. Tobin’s successor and now former premier, Roger Grimes, who is today patting himself on the back and desperately seeking some recognition after the Vale Inco announcement.
The deal eventually signed by Grimes allowed Vale Inco to ship ore concentrate out of the province for processing until such time as a new processing plant could be built.
The agreement also calls for Vale Inco to then begin processing the ore in the province and, once the mine’s life has expired, begin processing ore from other sources to make up for what was shipped out prior to the facility coming online.
The question I would like answered is, “Will this ever happen”?
Good news story and potential employment opportunities aside, in November of 2005 Vale Inco shipped it’s first of many billions of “teaspoons” of the valuable resource out of the Voisey Bay site in Labrador. By the time the proposed hydromet plant is built at Long Harbour, at the end of 2011, many more teaspoons will have been sent away.
Based on early production estimates back in 2005, by the time the new processing plant is built in late 2011 or early 2012 (if it’s even on schedule) more than 660 million pounds of Nickel concentrate will have been shipped to Sudbury Ontario for processing. In addition to the Nickel, 30 million pounds of valuable cobalt, 120 million pounds of copper and a further 420 million pounds of copper concentrate will have been sent out of the province.
That’s a lot of raw material to find “somewhere else” so it can be diverted to Long Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador once Voiesy’s Bay has outlived its usefulness.
Yes, perhaps new finds could potentially fill the void, but only if they can be found. Unfortunately, new nickel deposits aren’t sitting on every street corner. Finding one isn’t as easy as getting a Big Mac when you want one .
Yes, ore could potentially be re-directed from smelters in other parts of Canada but what level of political influence will be exerted to stop that from happening if the ore is to be taken away from say Sudbury, Ontario or Thompson, Manitoba and jobs are put in jeopardy?
Today concentrate from Voisey Bay is being processed in Sudbury and that supply will no longer be available to Ontario once this new facility comes online. That’s likely to cause enough concern in the Canadian heartland but one can only imagine the reaction if, once the Voisey’s Bay is depleted, further shipments to Sudbury are taken away and sent to Newfoundland.
In addition to the political ramifications there is the question of whether or not there might be technical reasons for Newfoundland and Labrador waiting a long time for those “teaspoons” to start trickling in?
I may be totally off base and perhaps someone with a metallurgical background can help me out here, but reading between the lines of recent news releases makes me question if it is technically feasible to process “other” ore at the new hydromet facility.
Just about every official comment, news release and public statement, from both the company and government over the past few days, with reference to the new facility, has for some reason made a point of including something to the effect that:
The company has proven that, “…the technology will work on Voisey’s Bay ore.”
Or
“…is capable of processing the Voisey’s Bay product.”
Why do they feel the need to specify the "Voisey's Bay" product as opposed to simply saying the system works for processing nickel?
Is it possible the technology being put in place has been designed in such a way taht that processing is limited to a specific mineral composition or ore type? Maybe I’m tilting at windmills here but the fact that the proponents appear so keen including those words in public communications is a little unsettling.
The original promise of “not one teaspoon” was made by a former Liberal premier.
The Voisey’s Bay deal was signed by another Liberal premier.
It’s now up to the current PC premier to make sure the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are fully informed and it will be up to a future premier, no matter the stripe, to make sure the original promise is honored in full.
It’s been a long road and it's not over yet.
Time will tell.
