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Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian mining company
Vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * VÃ¥le, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipali ...
. Vale's nickel mining and metals division is headquartered in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. It produces nickel, copper,
cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, pr ...
,
platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...
,
rhodium Rhodium is a chemical element with the symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is a very rare, silvery-white, hard, corrosion-resistant transition metal. It is a noble metal and a member of the platinum group. It has only one naturally occurring isoto ...
,
ruthenium Ruthenium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ru and atomic number 44. It is a rare transition metal belonging to the platinum group of the periodic table. Like the other metals of the platinum group, ruthenium is inert to ...
,
iridium Iridium is a chemical element with the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, it is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmium) with a density of ...
, gold, and silver. Prior to being purchased by CVRD (now Vale) in 2006, Inco was the world's second largest producer of nickel, and the third largest mining company outside South Africa and Russia of
platinum group The platinum-group metals (abbreviated as the PGMs; alternatively, the platinoids, platinides, platidises, platinum group, platinum metals, platinum family or platinum-group elements (PGEs)) are six noble, precious metallic elements clustered to ...
metals. It was also a charter member of the 30-stock
Dow Jones Industrial Average The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity inde ...
formed on October 1, 1928.


Pre-Vale history


Founding of Inco

The company was founded following the discovery by blacksmith Tom Flanagan in
Copper Cliff This is a list of neighbourhoods in the urban core of Greater Sudbury, Ontario. This list includes only those neighbourhoods that fall within the pre-2001 city limits of Sudbury — for communities within the former suburban municipalities, see t ...
Ontario of
chalcopyrite Chalcopyrite ( ) is a copper iron sulfide mineral and the most abundant copper ore mineral. It has the chemical formula CuFeS2 and crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It has a brassy to golden yellow color and a hardness of 3.5 to 4 on the Mo ...
deposits, while the
Canadian Pacific Railroad The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
was being built. Initially, ore was shipped for smelting to a plant in
Constable Hook, New Jersey Constable Hook is a cape located on the north side of the outlet of Kill van Kull into Upper New York Bay in Bayonne, New Jersey. The cape has long been an important site of marine transfer operations in the Port of New York and New Jersey. Just ...
, owned by the Orford Copper Company. Processing revealed in 1884 that the ore was also rich in nickel and exploration tests revealed an enormous potential. Nickel mining started in Sudbury, Ontario in 1902, and that year, the International Nickel Company, Ltd. was created in New York, NY as a joint venture between
Canadian Copper Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
,
Orford Copper Orford may refer to: Places * Orford, Cheshire, a suburb of Warrington, England * Orford, Suffolk, England ** Orford Castle ** Orford Ness ** Orford (UK Parliament constituency) * Orford, Quebec, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada ** Mont O ...
, and American Nickel Works. In 1905,
Monel Monel is a group of alloys of nickel (from 52 to 67%) and copper, with small amounts of iron, manganese, carbon, and silicon. Monel is not a cupronickel alloy because it has less than 60% copper. Stronger than pure nickel, Monel alloys are res ...
alloy was discovered by
Robert Crooks Stanley Robert Crooks Stanley (August 1, 1876 – February 12, 1951) was an American industrialist and mining engineer. He was chairman and president of International Nickel Company and discovered the alloy Monel. Biography Stanley was born on August 1, ...
(1876-1951) and named for Inco Chairman
Ambrose Monell Ambrose Monell (1873 – May 2, 1921) was an American industrialist and military commander. He served as the first president of the International Nickel Company and was the namesake of the alloy known as Monel. Biography Monell was born in 1873 ...
(1873-1921). Meanwhile, the development of
austenitic stainless steel Austenitic stainless steel is one of the five classes of stainless steel by crystalline structure (along with ''ferritic'', ''martensitic, duplex and precipitation hardened''). Its primary crystalline structure is austenite (face-centered cubic) ...
was launched by a pair of
Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...
engineers known today as AISI Type 304 or simply 18/8, which indicates a nickel content of 8%. This novelty would assure the 20th-century success of the firm. In 1916, the International Nickel Company of Canada, Ltd. was incorporated in
Copper Cliff This is a list of neighbourhoods in the urban core of Greater Sudbury, Ontario. This list includes only those neighbourhoods that fall within the pre-2001 city limits of Sudbury — for communities within the former suburban municipalities, see t ...
in Sudbury; this entity was a subsidiary of New York-based Inco. The company built a new refinery in
Port Colborne Port Colborne is a city in Ontario, Canada that is located on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal, in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario. The original settlement, known as Gravelly Bay, dates from 1832 and was renamed after S ...
in 1918 and during the following year, the company first began using the trade name Inco. In 1928, the corporation merged with the British-owned
Mond Nickel Company The Mond Nickel Company Limited was a United Kingdom-based mining company, formed on September 20, 1900, licensed in Canada to carry on business in the province of Ontario, from October 16, 1900. The firm was founded by Ludwig Mond (1839-1909) to p ...
; subsequently, a competitor mine by the name of
Falconbridge Ltd. Falconbridge Limited was a Toronto, Ontario-based natural resources company with operations in 18 countries, involved in the exploration, mining, processing, and marketing of metal and mineral products, including nickel, copper, cobalt, and plati ...
was founded. By 1931, Stanley had progressed to President of the firm. Between 1935 and 1939, sales exceeded 200 million pounds annually, which was more than 80% of world consumption.


Head office to Toronto

A head office for the Canadian operations of Inco was established in Toronto. During World War II, Inco's
Frood Mine Frood-Stobie Mine is a nickel mine in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, named for Thomas Frood, an employee of the federal department of Crown lands who prospected and staked many of the early mining claims in the area. A major arterial road in the city i ...
produced 40% of the nickel used in
artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
by the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
."Sudbury nickel mine stops operations at year's end due to falling prices"
''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', October 19, 2012.
From 1939 to 1945, Inco delivered to the Allies 1.5 billion pounds of nickel. After the war, demand for nickel remained high because of the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
and the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
of the 1950s. In its heyday during the 1950s, Inco produced 85% of the world's nickel supply. In 1956, geologists discovered the
Thompson, Manitoba Thompson (population 13,678) is the largest city in the Northern Region of Manitoba and is situated along the Burntwood River, north of Winnipeg. Originally founded in 1956 as a mining town, it now primarily serves as the "Hub of the North", p ...
ore body and named it for Inco Chairman John Fairfield Thompson. The first Canadian-born President of Inco, who held the office between 1960 and 1966, was named James Roycroft Gordon. The year 1969 saw a bloody four-month long strike at Inco's Sudbury operations, and the firm's share price was cut in half. In 1972, it was decided by Chairman L. Edward Grubb, ostensibly to pacify the labour unions, to move the head office from New York to Toronto where it resided in the
Toronto Dominion Centre The Toronto-Dominion Centre, or TD Centre, is an office complex in the Financial District of downtown Toronto owned by Cadillac Fairview. It serves as the global headquarters for its anchor tenant, the Toronto-Dominion Bank, and provides office a ...
. Also in 1972 the
Inco Superstack The Inco Superstack in Sudbury, Ontario, with a height of , is the tallest chimney in Canada and the Western hemisphere, and the second tallest freestanding chimney in the world after the GRES-2 Power Station in Kazakhstan. It is also the sec ...
was built in Sudbury. And in 1972, the Soroko project in
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
was begun together with involvement from six Japanese firms who together held a 40% share in the project. The 1975 Inco annual report had a picture of a
supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 Â°C (68 Â°F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...
jet which used nickel and
titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...
alloy blades forged by Daniel Doncaster and Sons, a 1975 acquisition of Inco (Alloy Products) division. A picture of
Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
talking with a Doncaster operator of electronic blade inspection equipment lies alongside it. In 1976, the company’s name was officially changed to Inco Limited. Inco also built and operated a facility that included a research center overlooking Blue Lake in New York's Sterling Forest area. That site was sold in the 1980s. The first hostile takeover on the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
was led by Grubb, who successfully executed a merger with Philadelphia-based ESB, manufacturers of amongst others the
Ray-O-Vac Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. is an American diversified company. Headquartered in Middleton, Wisconsin, it was established in 2005 as the successor company to Rayovac Corporation. It is one of the Fortune 500 companies, and among the largest of ...
battery.


Downturn

During the first half of the 1980s Inco bled a lot of red ink, "which caused the elimination during the five years from 1980 of more than 12,000 jobs worldwide, or 35 percent of its work force, including more than 6,000 jobs in Canada." It then produced one-third of the world's nickel. Charles F. Baird was the chairman and CEO. By 1985 Inco (Alloy Products) division included: Doncasters Blaenavon Ltd Special Alloy Products Division, Doncasters Monk Bridge Ltd, Doncasters Sheffield Ltd, Doncasters Moorside Ltd, Beaufort Engineering Ltd, Whittingham and Porter Ltd, I.A.P.L. Technology Centre and Inco Selective Surfaces Ltd. In late 1994,
Diamond Field Resources Voisey's Bay Mine is a nickel mine in Labrador, Canada, near the bay of the same name. The mine is located about southwest of Nain. Nickel deposit A large nickel deposit was discovered in the hills along the western shore of Potato Isla ...
discovered nickel, copper and cobalt ore bodies at
Voisey's Bay Mine Voisey's Bay Mine is a nickel mine in Labrador, Canada, near the bay of the same name. The mine is located about southwest of Nain. Nickel deposit A large nickel deposit was discovered in the hills along the western shore of Potato Isla ...
(VBM) in
Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...
, Canada. The deposit was estimated to contain 141 million tonnes at 1.6% nickel and was imagined by the then-chieftains of Inco as a 21st-century replacement for the waning Copper Cliff resource. In 1996, the VBM was purchased by
Inco Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...
for 4.3 billion
Canadian dollars The Canadian dollar ( symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style ...
. Some say that Inco overpaid for VBM because of the presence of Falconbridge at the auction. In order to generate cash Inco sold its manufacturing sites of nickel alloys to
Special Metals Corporation Special Metals Corporation (SMC) is an American supplier of special refractory alloys and is headquartered in New Hartford, New York, United States. The company has operations in Huntington, West Virginia; Dunkirk, New York; Burnaugh, Kentucky; ...
in 1998 for US$408 million. In the previous year, the division had generated US$668 million in revenue.The New York Times, July 10, 1998 Company News: Special Metals agrees to acquire alloys unit from Inco
/ref> Special Metals Corporation however filed
Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...
in March 2002. In February 2001, nine-year CEO Michael Sopko stepped down while he announced a $400 million profit. He was replaced by New York lawyer
Scott Hand Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sask ...
. In 2002, the VBM purchase was regarded as a "costly blunder... when the company had to write down a third of the value of the $4-billion acquisition only six years after the purchase," but in early 2004 that did not prevent Hand from making a bid for
Noranda Noranda may refer to: *Noranda (mining company) * Noranda Caldera, an Archean caldera in Canada *Noranda, Western Australia Noranda is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located in the City of Bayswater. The suburb was named in 1977 after N ...
and
Falconbridge Falconbridge may refer to: *Falconbridge Ltd., a Canadian mining company *Falconbridge, Middlesex County, Ontario *Falconbridge, Greater Sudbury, Ontario People: *Lord Falconbridge, an alternative title for barons, viscounts, and earls of Fauconbe ...
, both of which were at the time owned by
Brascan Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a Canadian multinational company that is one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies, with over US$725 billion of assets under management in 2022. It focuses on direct contro ...
, who then declined the Inco offer. The bait in the water attracted
Mick Davis Sir Michael Lawrence Davis (born 15 February 1958) is a British politician and former South African businessman, former Chief Executive and Treasurer of the Conservative Party and the chief executive (CEO) of Xstrata plc, an Anglo-Swiss multina ...
and
Roger Agnelli Roger Agnelli (May 3, 1959 – March 19, 2016) was a Brazilian Investment banker, entrepreneur and corporate leader. He ran one of the largest mining companies in the world, Vale SA, and in 2013 was voted by Harvard Business Review as the worldâ ...
. Hand was not deterred from his takeover madness and went to Australia to try his luck in the Western Mining sweepstakes, where he was outbid by XStrata's offer of US$5.7 billion and the ultimately successful BHP Billiton bid of $7.3 billion. Not last in the waters was
Teck Cominco Teck may refer to: * Teck Castle (Burg Teck) in Württemberg, Germany * Teckberg, mountain on which it is located * Duke of Teck, a title of nobility, associated with Teck Castle * Teck Railway, Germany * Teck Resources, a Canadian mining company f ...
's
Don Lindsay Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON * Don (river), a river in European Russia * Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a v ...
, a product of
CIBC World Markets CIBC World Markets Inc. is the investment banking subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The firm operates as an investment bank both in the domestic and international equity and debt capital markets. The firm provides a variety ...
and who had advised Falconbridge in their failed acquisition of VBM.


Takeovers (2005–2006)

On October 11, 2005, Inco's CEO
Scott Hand Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sask ...
announced a friendly takeover bid to buy out the operations of longtime rival
Falconbridge Falconbridge may refer to: *Falconbridge Ltd., a Canadian mining company *Falconbridge, Middlesex County, Ontario *Falconbridge, Greater Sudbury, Ontario People: *Lord Falconbridge, an alternative title for barons, viscounts, and earls of Fauconbe ...
for $12 billion. If approved, the deal would have made Inco the world's largest producer of nickel. Davis's
Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter of thermal coal), copper, ...
(which already owned ~20% of Falconbridge shares) subsequently submitted a
hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...
bid for Falconbridge, resulting in a bidding war between Inco and Xstrata. The Xstrata bid was successful, but not before Falconbridge employed a poison pill to delay the acquisition, raising its share price from $28 to $62.50 in the meantime.
Teck Cominco Teck may refer to: * Teck Castle (Burg Teck) in Württemberg, Germany * Teckberg, mountain on which it is located * Duke of Teck, a title of nobility, associated with Teck Castle * Teck Railway, Germany * Teck Resources, a Canadian mining company f ...
submitted a hostile takeover bid to purchase Inco on May 8, 2006 for $16 billion if it agreed to abandon its takeover of Falconbridge. On June 26 of the same year,
Phelps Dodge Phelps Dodge Corporation was an American mining company founded in 1834 as an import-export firm by Anson Greene Phelps and his two sons-in-law William Earle Dodge, Sr. and Daniel James. The latter two ran Phelps, James & Co., the part of the ...
submitted a friendly takeover bid to purchase a combined Inco and Falconbridge for around $40 billion; that offer was also withdrawn because of the failure of the Inco-Falconbridge merger. On August 14, 2006 Brazilian mining company CVRD extended an all-cash offer to buy Inco for $17 billion. That offer received approval from the Canadian government's investment review agency on October 19, and was accepted by Inco shareholders on October 23. Part of the takeover deal was that CVRD would operate Inco as a separate nickel mining division; all of CVRD's nickel operations, including mines at
Onca Puma The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in t ...
and Vermelho in Brazil, were transferred to Inco's management. Inco was delisted from the
NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the List of stock exchanges, world's largest s ...
on November 16, 2006 and the
TSX The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in t ...
on January 5, 2007. According to its current web site, Inco is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Vale (formerly CVRD). Vale has since changed the name of Vale-Inco to simply Vale, stating the change is "a milestone that aligns it more fully with other Vale operations worldwide and reflects its position as part of the world’s second largest mining company"


Recent history

In 2015, Vale was said to be exploring an IPO of its base metals unit for $30–35 billion, in order to lighten its debt load.


Criticism

In 2006 Inco was removed from the
FTSE4Good Index The FTSE4Good Index Series is a series of ethical investment stock market indices launched in 2001 by the FTSE Group which reports on the performance of companies which demonstrate "strong Environmental, Social and Governance practices". A numbe ...
for failing to meet their human rights criteria. The company has had disputes with native groups and environmental concerns over mine runoff.


Labour relations

Employees for Inco in Canada are represented by the
United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headquar ...
throughout all the mergers. Because of the mergers, the United Steelworkers signed an agreement with all the unions that represent mining workers in countries where Vale/Inco operate to "work together cooperatively and strategically as global partners, to build the bargaining power of worker." The unions include Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores no Setor Minera, SINTICIM,
Union syndicale des ouvriers et employés de Nouvelle-Calédonie Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
,
Union des Syndicats des Travailleurs Kanak et Exploités Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** Union ...
, Fagforbundet for Industri og Energi,
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU, though most commonly still referred to as CFMEU) is Australia's main trade union in construction, forestry, maritime, mining, energy, textile, clothing and footwear producti ...
, and the
United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headquar ...
.


Current operations


Ontario, Canada

*
Coleman Mine The Coleman Mine is an underground nickel and copper mine operated by Vale northwest of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It is the flagship mine of Vale's Sudbury operation. The mine recently implemented the use of electric haul vehicles and install ...
, Vale's flagship nickel mine *
Copper Cliff North Mine Copper Cliff North Mine is an underground nickel mine in Copper Cliff, Ontario, Canada. It is owned and operated by Vale Canada Limited. The mine was the 2007 winner of the John T. Ryan Trophy for metal mines. Employing approximately 260 peop ...
*
Copper Cliff South Mine Copper Cliff South Mine is an underground nickel mine in Copper Cliff, Ontario, Canada. It is owned and operated by Vale Canada Limited. Part of the mine is located under the town of Copper Cliff, which means that additional care must be put i ...
*
Creighton Mine Creighton Mine is an underground nickel, copper, and platinum-group elements (PGE) mine. It is presently owned and operated by Vale Limited (formerly known as INCO) in the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Open pit mining began in 1901, an ...
*
Garson Mine Garson Mine is an underground nickel mine located in the community of Garson, within the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Garson mine was developed around 1908 by Mond Nickel Company and is owned by Vale Inco. Garson Ramp Project Vale ...
* Refinery in
Port Colborne Port Colborne is a city in Ontario, Canada that is located on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal, in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario. The original settlement, known as Gravelly Bay, dates from 1832 and was renamed after S ...
* Clarabelle Mill *
Totten mine Totten may refer to: Places * Totten (mountain), a mountain in Hemsedal, Norway * Fort Totten (disambiguation) * Totten Glacier, Antarctica * Totten Inlet, Puget Sound, Washington, United States * Totten Key, island in the Florida Keys, United Stat ...
* Copper Cliff Smelter *
Copper Cliff Nickel Refinery Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-or ...


Manitoba, Canada

*
Birchtree Mine Birchtree Mine is an underground nickel mine, owned and operated by Vale Inco in the city of Thompson, Manitoba, Canada. It lies in the nickel containing Thompson Belt, a geologic feature associated with the Circum-Superior Belt large igneous p ...
*
Thompson Mine Thompson may refer to: People * Thompson (surname) * Thompson M. Scoon (1888–1953), New York politician Places Australia *Thompson Beach, South Australia, a locality Bulgaria * Thompson, Bulgaria, a village in Sofia Province Canada * ...


Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

*
Voisey's Bay Mine Voisey's Bay Mine is a nickel mine in Labrador, Canada, near the bay of the same name. The mine is located about southwest of Nain. Nickel deposit A large nickel deposit was discovered in the hills along the western shore of Potato Isla ...
*
Long Harbour Nickel Processing Plant The Long Harbour Nickel Processing Plant is a Canadian nickel concentrate processing facility located in Long Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador. Operated by Vale Limited, construction on the plant started in April 2009 and operations began in 2 ...


Indonesia

*Vale Inco's
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n joint venture
PT Vale Indonesia Tbk PT, Pt, or pt may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''P.T.'' (video game), acronym for ''Playable Teaser'', a short video game released to promote the cancelled video game ''Silent Hills'' * Porcupine Tree, a British progressive rock group ...
, an Indonesian company which is 20 percent publicly owned ( IDX:INCO), is located in
Soroako Soroako, also spelled Sorowako, is a small mining town in the north-east of South Sulawesi province, in the centre of Sulawesi island in Indonesia. It is the location of the Sorowako Mine, which is the largest open-pit mine in Indonesia, own ...
. In August 2011, a dispute began because PT Inco broke its promise to build 2 smelters in Pomala and Bahodopi in 2005 and 2010 respectively, and to hand over 50,000 hectares of its 118,000-hectare concession to locals. Based on the latest feasibility study, only the Bahodopi smelter facility was possible. The dispute might go to court. *October 11, 2011: After starting operation of its third hydropower plant at Karebbe with an output of 130 megawatts (MW), the company would increase production from 73,000 metric tons to 120,000 metric tons per year over the next five years. The first and second hydropower plants are located in Larona and Balambano with a combined output of 365 MW. As part of its
Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethicall ...
plan, the company has given a total of 8 MW from the plants to
Perusahaan Listrik Negara PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero) ( 'State Electricity Company', abbreviated as PLN) is an Indonesian government-owned corporation which has a monopoly on electric power distribution in Indonesia and generates the majority of the country' ...
(Indonesian Government Electric Company) for free.


New Caledonia

*Vale Inco
New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...


In popular culture

Inco is a central theme in the
Stompin' Tom Connors Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, OC (February 9, 1936 – March 6, 2013) was a Canadian country and folk singer-songwriter. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, he is credited with writing more than 300 songs and has rele ...
song " Sudbury Saturday Night". More recently, the
Creighton Mine Creighton Mine is an underground nickel, copper, and platinum-group elements (PGE) mine. It is presently owned and operated by Vale Limited (formerly known as INCO) in the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Open pit mining began in 1901, an ...
, owned by Vale and hosting the
Sudbury Neutrino Observatory The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) was a neutrino observatory located 2100 m underground in Vale's Creighton Mine in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The detector was designed to detect solar neutrinos through their interactions with a large t ...
, figures largely in the plot of
Robert J. Sawyer Robert James Sawyer (born April 29, 1960) is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 24 novels published and his short fiction has appeared in ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'', ''Amazing Stories'', '' On Spec'', ''Nature'', and numerou ...
's ''
Neanderthal Parallax The Neanderthal Parallax is a trilogy of novels written by Robert J. Sawyer and published by Tor Books, Tor. It depicts the effects of the opening of a connection between two versions of Earth in different Parallel universe (fiction), parallel un ...
'' trilogy.


See also

* 1978 Inco strike * 2009-10 Vale-Inco strike


References

{{Authority control Vale S.A. Nickel mining companies of Canada Mining in Ontario Companies based in Toronto 1902 establishments in Ontario Non-renewable resource companies established in 1902 Economy of Greater Sudbury History of Greater Sudbury Canadian subsidiaries of foreign companies Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Former components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Canadian companies established in 1902