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Canada

Sudbury Operation

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Sudbury Operation

Location: 4 km SW from Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Regional Office:

337 Power Street
Copper Cliff
Ontario, Canada
P0M 1N0

Contacts:

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Categories

Summary

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Nickel
  • Copper
  • Cobalt
  • Platinum
  • Palladium
  • Gold
  • Silver
  • PGM
Mining Method
  • Mechanized Cut & Fill
  • Post Pillar Cut & Fill
  • Longitudinal stoping
  • Transverse stoping
  • Slot-Slash
  • Uppers Retreat
  • Vertical Crater Retreat
  • Drift & Fill
Backfill type ... Lock
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe Sudbury Operation includes five active underground mines (Coleman, Copper Cliff, Creighton, Garson, Totten), a non-operating underground mine and open pit at Stobie, and several exploration or non-producing sites such as Victor, Copper Cliff Pit, and Ella Capre.

Processing and refining take place at the Clarabelle Mill, Copper Cliff Smelter, and Nickel Refinery in Sudbury, and at the Port Colborne Nickel Refinery.

Sudbury ore yields by-products including cobalt, PGMs, silver, and gold, processed at Port Colborne. Refined cobalt is produced at Vale’s Long Harbour facility in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Vale has equipped some of Sudbury mines with a wireless network underground (LTE and Wi-Fi), tele-remote mobile equipment, and battery electric vehicles.
Related AssetsColeman Mine, Copper Cliff Mine, Creighton Mine, Garson Mine, Totten Mine

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Manara Minerals Investment Co. 10 % Indirect
Vale S.A. 90 % Indirect
Vale Canada Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
The Sudbury (Ontario) Operations are wholly-owned and operated by Vale Canada Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vale Base Metals Ltd., the holding entity of Vale’s Energy Transition Metals business.

On April 30, 2024, Vale S.A. announced the completion of Vale Base Metals Ltd.(“VBM”) sale to Manara Minerals, under which Manara Minerals will acquire 10% of VBM.

Contractors

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SourceSource

Deposit type

  • Magmatic
  • Footwall hosted
  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork

Summary:

The Sudbury magmatic copper–nickel sulphide deposits are part of the Paleoproterozoic Sudbury Structure which comprises the SIC and associated dykes, and the overlying Paleoproterozoic Whitewater Group rocks. Footwall rocks to the Sudbury Structure are Archean gneisses and granitic and mafic igneous rocks to the north and Paleoproterozoic metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Huronian Supergroup to the south.

The Sudbury Structure is exposed as an elliptical ring with a northeast-trending long axis of ~72 km and a short axis of ~27 km. The upper northeast-trending contact of the surface expression of the SIC is often referred to as the North Range, similarly the South Range is associated with the areas along or near the southern surface exposure of the SIC contact. Margins of the SIC are characterized with an average inward dip of about 45º along the north part of the SIC; however, they are generally steeply dipping or overturned in the south and east sections.

Major components of the SIC include the differentiated norite–gabbro-granophyre Main Mass and a group of minor intrusions, collectively termed the Sublayer. Three major variants of the Sublayer are recognized: the first comprises igneous-textured gabbro–noritic material, the second consists of igneous-textured quartz diorite, while the third variant comprises a wide variety of metamorphic-textured rocks collectively known as “footwall breccia”. The Sublayer is localized either at the contact between the Main Mass and footwall rocks or within radiating and concentric dykes cutting footwall rocks. Sublayer units are characterized by disseminated to massive sulphide and by the presence of a variety of xenoliths of both local and unknown or “exotic” derivation.

Rocks of the Whitewater Group are found only within the central portion of the Sudbury Structure. The Whitewater Group consists of three conformable formations, in ascending order, the Onaping impact-generated breccias, Onwatin siltstone and wacke, and Chelmsford turbidite.

All rocks defined as footwall to the Sudbury Structure are cut by occurrences of the Sudbury Breccia. This breccia occurs as small veins, irregularly-shaped patches and large bodies, which may extend for many kilometers along strike. The breccia consists of inclusions of locally-derived footwall lithologies within comminuted footwall rock.

The Sudbury Structure is cut by a number of regional and local mafic dyke swarms. The Murray and Creighton granitic plutons, part of the Cartier batholith, intrude the Huronian Supergroup, and predate the impact.

Sudbury deposits host three principal styles of mineralization: Contact-style, Offset-style, Footwall style. However, the three mineralization environments can be quite variable, transitional, and many exhibit characteristics fitting more than one mineralization environment description.

Two types of Footwall-style deposits are identified in the North Range. These are massive sulphide copper–platinum group element (PGM) deposits and low-sulphide high-PGM deposits. Lowsulphide–high-PGM, and to a lesser extent massive sulphide copper–PGM deposits occur in the South Range.

Pyrrhotite is the most common sulphide mineral. Chalcopyrite is the main copper-bearing mineral and second most common sulphide mineral. Chalcopyrite is typically (but not always) associated with elevated PGEs and precious metals. Pentlandite is the main nickel mineral and is present in all ore types.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

The 2022, 2023, and 2024 Pt, Pd, and Au production numbers also include ore source from Manitoba, external suppliers, and minor amounts from Voisey’s Bay.
CommodityUnits2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Nickel kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe5151628054
Copper kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe93729812298
Cobalt t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe495520840882751
Platinum koz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe148135144166154
Palladium koz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe182218214322341
Gold koz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe6957749889
Silver koz 2,1651,669

Operational metrics

Metrics2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3,669 kt3,337 kt4,210 kt5,850 kt6,164 kt
Annual production capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe66 kt of nickel metal66 kt of nickel metal66 kt of nickel metal66 kt of nickel metal

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Mine Financials

Units2024202320222021
Book Value M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Personnel

Mine Management

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Workforce

EmployeesYear
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Aerial view:

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