Vale Newfoundland and Labrador is building a state-of-the-art new hydromet processing facility in Long Harbour, reports Thompson Citizen.
Vale spokesmanBob Carter said the company is targeting phase one construction completion by the end of October.The processing facility is located in Long Harbour in southeast Newfoundland on Placentia Bay on the western Avalon Peninsula, about 100 kilometres from St. John’s.
Phase one construction is about 90% complete, but the project has been plagued by shortages of skilled trades workers and absenteeism, the company says, leading it to offer big pay incentives, unveiled publicly July 23, to wrap things up for this first phase over the next three months.
“We have already begun commissioning some systems and that process will continue beyond Oct. 31 – typically for three to four months at which time we will begin operations using feed primarily from Indonesia,” Carter told the Thompson Citizen July 29.
“We will continue with Phase 2 construction to complete the remaining impurity removal circuits. This work will occur in 2014,” he added.
Cost overruns with construction delays are expected to drive the originally estimated $2.8 billion construction cost to more than $4 billion by the time Long Harbour is ready to go into full operation.
Long Harbour was originally scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2013 and then by the end of the second quarter June 30, with Oct. 31 the current projection.
