Vale to pour $3.4B into Sudbury basin.

• Position: IN BRIEF

As part of its five-year, $10-billion spending plan for Canada, global miner Vale has announced it will be investing $3.4 billion to upgrade mining and processing facilities at its Sudbury operations.

The lion's share of this money will go towards reducing sulphur dioxide emissions by more than 80 per cent over current levels, a project whose price tag sits between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. Construction will begin in 2012 and is set to wrap up by 2015, with between 800 and 2,000 workers on-site at any one time.

Sudbury's Clarabelle Mill is due to see a $200-million investment to improve recoveries by up to four per cent. This will involve the construction of a new building and the implementation of...