The new head of Vale’s North Atlantic division says that the Brazilian mining giant has three goals for their operations here in Thompson; stabilization, building for the future and growth. 

 

Alistair Ross, the manager of North Atlantic Mining Operations, spoke to Arctic Radio News during a recent visit to Thompson and said that the “very important” first step is to stabilize what the company has currently. 

 

Ross said that one main part of stabilizing is to finish the last transition of their workforce so that it is the right size for their new operations in the region. 

 

He added that another key aspect Vale is recovery from the delay of their annual capital development spend. Ross said that the spend is where they build out future portions of the mine so that the ore is accessible. He added that they are “far behind on that” and that it’s currently a limitation for the company. 

 

When it comes to building for the future, Ross said that the first major part of that is major infrastructure upgrades in areas like ventilation, underground electrical supply and backfill. 

 

He said that one of their goals for growth is to figure out how much the company should invest in exploration so that as operations stabilize, they know what their new goals should be.