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Construction at Voisey?s Bay stalled

BY KEITH LACEY [email protected] Numerous construction projects which have been undertaken over the past several months at Voisey?s Bay will be shut down in the next few weeks once the bitter cold weather moves into Labrador. But Inco Ltd.
BY KEITH LACEY

Numerous construction projects which have been undertaken over the past several months at Voisey?s Bay will be shut down in the next few weeks once the bitter cold weather moves into Labrador.

But Inco Ltd. management insists the timelines remain in place for the nickel giant to start reaping the rewards from its $4.4 billion investment in Voisey?s Bay by the summer of 2006.

?We still have close to 600 workers on site and most of them will be removed in the next little while,? said Steve Mitchell, Inco?s director of public affairs.

?We will be keeping a small skeleton staff at the site throughout the winter...The staff will need to be there to maintain the camp we?ve set up and ensure the heavy equipment remains in good working order.?

Inco made headlines around the world when it purchased Voisey?s Bay in the mid-1990s for more than $4 billion.

Inco paid $750 million in 1995 to purchase 25 per cent interest in the newly-discovered ore body. In April of
1996, Inco gained almost total control of Voisey?s Bay paying $4.3 billion to Diamond Fields Resources Inc. of Vancouver.

Voisey?s Bay remains the largest deposit of nickel, copper and precious metals discovered anywhere in the world in the past 50 years.

It has taken years of negotiations with the Newfoundland government and area aboriginal people?namely the Innu Nation and Labrador Inuit?for Inco to gain access to their prize.

A final agreement with the Newfoundland government, including Inco?s promise to build a new mine and mill using hydrometallurgical processing, was reached in June 2002.

This past summer has been a productive one as initial construction has seen numerous projects proceed on time and on budget, said Mitchell.

?We expect to complete the permanent airstrip to the main mine site before the construction season ends in the
next few weeks. We also expect to install the building foundation for the building used to hold the nickel
concentrate.?

Last month, Inco also opened its ?mini pilot plant? in the Toronto area showcasing its new hydrometallurgical process that will be used to break down Voisey?s Bay ore.

This process has been used in other mining operations, but it?s the first time Inco has used this method to break down and treat its sulphide ore.

The company is very pleased with the early results and this is the first step in a process that will see the company build a ?demonstration plant? in Argentia, near Voisey?s Bay and then the full-scale mining and processing plant by the end of the decade, Mitchell said.

Because it?s taken so long for Voisey?s Bay to proceed since Inco purchased the rights to the land, there are skeptics who don?t believe the company will be able to start mining the site by the stated goal.

Mitchell says the company remains ?deeply committed? to meeting that time line. ?Our plan remains to be able to
ship the first nickel concentrate out of Voisey?s Bay by 2006.?

For the first several years, Inco will use open pit mining techniques to get raw ore from the main ovoid at Voisey?s
Bay to the processing plant.

Eventually, the company will build an underground mine as all test results indicate the concentration of high-grade
ore goes far down underneath the main ovoid, he said.

However, once construction is completed and the mine site is fully operational, Voisey?s Bay will operate on a year-round, 24-hour basis, he said.

The company will also likely have to stockpile during winter months as the weather will make shipping product
from Argentia an impossible task during certain winter months, Mitchell said.

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