HIGH-GRADE NI-CU-PT-PD-ZN-CR-AU-V-TI DISCOVERIES IN THE "RING OF FIRE"
NI 43-101 Update (September 2012): 11.1 Mt @ 1.68% Ni, 0.87% Cu, 0.89 gpt Pt and 3.09 gpt Pd and 0.18 gpt Au (Proven & Probable Reserves) / 8.9 Mt @ 1.10% Ni, 1.14% Cu, 1.16 gpt Pt and 3.49 gpt Pd and 0.30 gpt Au (Inferred Resource)
Message: Vale Inco Job Cuts
More cuts coming
Posted By DENIS ST. PIERRE, THE SUDBURY STAR
Posted 6 days ago
The departure of the Sudbury- based president of Vale Inco's Ontario operations is not part of ongoing job cuts and corporate restructuring, the company says.
Fred Stanford's departure was reported to Vale Inco employees Wednesday and made public Thursday, as was a company forecast for additional restructuring -- and presumably job cuts -- over the next few months.
Stanford decided on his own to leave Vale, a company spokesman said Thursday.
"We can confirm that our president, Fred Stanford, has elected to retire after 28 years of service," said Steve Ball, manager of corporate affairs for Vale Inco's Ontario operations.
"The reasons for doing so rest with Fred and which only he can answer," Ball said. "His valued contributions to our operation will be missed."
Stanford was appointed president of Vale Inco's Ontario operations in January 2007. He is being replaced on an interim basis by John Pollesel, who has been the company's vice-president of sustainability and business services since last August.
"John will play a key role supporting chief operating officer Parviz Farsangi in the restructuring of the Canadian operations," the company stated in its announcement to employees this week.
The statement, from Vale Inco president and chief executive officer Tito Martins, also advised of further cost-cutting in the near future, particularly in management ranks.
"Over the next three months, additional restructuring will occur in our global nickel business," Martins stated. "Managerial positions and functions will bear the initial impact of this effort and there will be fewer people going forward in these roles than there are today.
"Complimenting that effort, each of our nickel operations around the globe ... has been assigned specific performance improvement targets designed to position them as cash-flow positive. These improvements will come primarily through decreased operating and capital costs."
Vale Inco's corporate office in Toronto and its technical services operation in Mississauga will not escape the restructuring, the statement said, although it did not provide further details.
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The announcement of further restructuring did not come as a surprise to nickel market analyst Terry Ortslan.
"They continue to say they're doing what they need to do for the long term of their business," said Montreal-based Ortslan.
However, "the ultimate restructuring" of Sudbury mining operations, which will be even more dramatic, remains several years away, he suggested.
It is inevitable, Ortslan said, that Vale Inco and Xstrata Nickel will reach an agreement on comprehensive integration of their operations in the area, to achieve greater efficiencies and profit margins.
Although such an idea has been bandied about for years, apparently with little or no progress, that does not mean it won't happen, Ortslan said.
"A lot of people think pulling assets like this together is easy, but it's not," he said. "It's very complicated and it takes a long time. But that's the big picture, in the long run."
Meanwhile, if Vale imposes further job cuts at its Sudbury operations, the community will not be able to turn to the federal government for help, Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle said.
The minority Conservative government has given "the green light" to Vale to slash jobs even if it means violating a three-year, no-layoff commitment the company made when it was allowed to purchase Inco Ltd. in 2006.
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