OREANDA-NEWS. November 30, 2011. Brazilian miner Vale SA plans to spend USD 1.37 billion on its Canadian nickel operations in 2012.

The lion's share of the investment-USD 1.21 billion-will go toward the completion of a nickel processing plant in Long Harbour, Labrador and Newfoundland, which will have the capacity to produce 50,000 tonnes of nickel annually from concentrate produced at the nearby Voisey's Bay Mine, according to the company.

Vale has completed more than 50 percent of the plant, spending about USD 1.3 billion of a total projected cost of USD 3.6 billion, according to its investment report for 2012.

The plant would be the first in the world to process concentrate from nickel sulfide ore directly into finished nickel, the company said previously.

Vale reiterated in its investment report that the plant will be operational by the second half of 2013 despite a recently reported worker shortage (AMM, Nov. 2).

The rest of the company's Canadian investment, about USD 157 million, will go toward the reopening of the Totten Mine in Sudbury, Ontario, which is expected to start up in the second half of 2013 with an annual output of 8,200 tonnes of nickel, according to the company's investment report. The total cost of the mine is estimated at USD 759 million, of which USD 358 million has been spent so far.