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Demolition of iron ore plant to be complete by year's end, says Vale

Recycling scrap metal nets $6 million in savings
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Demolition of the Copper Cliff iron ore recovery plant is currently underway, and expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Going green has many benefits, especially when it results in significant cost savings ranging in the millions.

Vale will save about $6 million by recycling most of the scrap metal that will be left over once the Copper Cliff iron ore recovery plant is demolished.

The original price tag was just over $8 million, but the contractor who will demolish the facility will take the scrap metal for recycling purposed, cutting the cost down to just over $2 million, said Angie Robson, spokesperson for Vale.

Demolition work began in August 2017 and it will be completed by the end of this year, she said.

The plant operated from the mid-1950s until the mid-1980s. It was used to remove sulphur from the slurry that was pumped to the tailings from the Copper Cliff concentrator. The sulphur was then sent to an acid plant and the nickel and copper was recovered from the slurry as it continued through the process.

“Over the years, our processes have evolved, and that plant was no longer necessary to our operations,” Robson said.

That plant's chimney will remain standing and will continue to be used. 

Demolition work is being done by JMX Contracting, which specializes in environmental contracting and demolition.

Vale has been planning to demolish the plant since it bought the operation from INCO in 2007. However, nesting peregrine falcons put a dent in those plans, as they birds were listed on the endangered species list.

“Certainly, the falcons have been an important consideration in our plans to take it down,” Robson said.

Vale erected two nesting boxes away from the building to draw the birds away from the plant, she said. And, it worked.

“We've seen them in the nesting boxes as of last year,” Robson said. “We haven't seen them this year, but we are keeping an eye out. We don't even know if they were the same falcons every year.”

Peregrine falcons have been downgraded to a species of special concern in Ontario, which is good news for that species, Robson said. And, since they are no longer threatened by the demolition, the miner was able to begin demolition.


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Arron Pickard

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