Vale provides update on project site

Although the fog was thick in the hills above the town of Long Harbour, the rain was pouring and the threat of lightning was quite real, members of the provincial media gathered in Long Harbour June 25 for a tour and update of the Vale hydrometallurgical site.

Construction is moving ahead quickly at the site, which is expected to clue up in 2013 when the nickel metallurgical processing plant opens its doors.

Providing an orientation and safety overview before heading up to the site were construction manager Dan Donnelly, project director Rinaldo Stefan and Bob Carter, public affairs manager, who were available to answer questions about the site.

In the update booklet they passed around to media, the project status included statistics such as Vale needing over 300 permits for the project, adding so far, 85 have been approved.

In relation to contract awards, 207 plan packages are needed for equipment, 64 for materials and 104 for contracts. Of those, 64 per cent of the equipment packages are closed, 17 per cent of materials are closed and 28 per cent of contracts are closed.

As for employment, although the peak is not expected quite yet, so far, according to Vale's data, of the person hours of employment since the initial work began in April, 72 per cent took place within the province with only 28 per cent outside Newfoundland and Labrador.

Right now, there are approximately 1,400 people supporting the project with about 840 working on the construction site, of which approximately 85 are residents of the local area. Another 560 supporting engineering, procurement and operations planning takes place at St. John's offices or in Vancouver. At peak times, Vale expects over 2,000 employees to be working on the project.

A map provided shows where the 15 large buildings are to be located on the huge industrial site that will produce nickel rounds about the size of a quarter when completed. Those will then be packed and shipped to Vale's customers.

The largest building under construction is the neutralization building, where the first stage in the process takes place. Neutralization removes impurity before electrowinning, the final stage that produces finished nickel, copper and cobalt.

Concrete was poured for foundation of the neutralization building March 30. At 380 metres in length and 55 metres wide, the building is about the size of four football fields.

The building will have no internal columns. Instead, it will have 38-metre-high columns along the sides of the building.

"The downside of not having internal columns is that ... your roof truss becomes huge," said Donnelly.

The trusses are five metres in height.

Rinaldo Stefan, Vale's project director said the lack of internal columns allows the company to more easily install huge process modules in the building and then connect them together.

"We are on target to complete construction in February 2013," he said. "Indications so far are positive, but it's a long way to go and we're keeping a very close eye on the progress."

Stefan expects the Long Harbour project to be able to compete with Western Canada for those employees. But he said there is a possibility of skilled labour shortages in two key jobs - pipefitters and electricians.

To avoid this, Vale is working with the Resources Development Council, which represents 16 trade unions at Long Harbour.

The project is expected to last 15 years and there is a closure plan in place as noted, the value of the plant remains after that time. The company's Sudbury plant was used as an example of what can happen, as that plant has been operating long after their initial five-year plan.

As for work happening now at the site, construction manager Donnelly said they'd like to see steel and trusses for the neutralization building to start going up by August.

"We'd like to have the building closed in by March or April of next year ... weather permitting, of course."

Two man-made ponds near the site are collecting ground water runoff, sediment and silt that would otherwise wind up in nearby Rattling Brook and ponds.

The goal is to prevent turbidity in the brook and ponds.

"We monitor this at all times," said Stefan.

One pond holds 40,000 cubic metres of water, the other holds 30,000 cubic metres.

In recent weeks, Stefan said those collection ponds were tested by heavy rainfall and fared well.

www.thecharter.ca With files from The Telegram editor@thecharter.ca