The Vale Voice

The Vale Voice
Working together for a sustainable future
In this issue
What’s happening with Vale’s Kronau Project?
Kids experiment with the world around them in mind
The Great Loreburn Debate
Ground Matters: Vale’s Plans and Projections for Subsidence
Community Profile: David Sloan, SAW Chair
In the Community
What’s happening with Vale’s Kronau
Project?
It has been around six months since our last issue of the
Vale Voice was distributed and you might be wondering
where Vale is at with our Kronau Project. Here are the three
most-asked questions of our local team and our response.
Question: Is Vale still seeking partners to
advance the Kronau Project?
Answer: Yes. Since last-2013 Vale has been looking to
secure partners for the Kronau Project. There has been a
lot of interest in the project and while we continue to
explore some promising avenues no partnerships have
been finalized to date.
Question: How will Vale keep me in the loop
as the Kronau Project status changes?
Answer: We will continue to do our best to ensure that our
stakeholders are among the first to know about a change
in the Kronau Project status. You can watch for updates on
our website and in future issues of this newsletter. We’ll
also be sure to get in touch with your local municipality to
let them know about a status change in the project.
If you still have questions for Vale at any time, please feel
free to phone us at 306-791-4510 or email
[email protected].
We will continue to work through this process in the
remainder of 2014.
Question: What does this mean for the
Kronau Project schedule?
Answer: As we have discussed in past issues, there are
many variables and many decision points along the road
of the Kronau Project. While there are no dates set in
stone, our best estimate of our development schedule
looks like this:
2014
Begin basic engineering and construction plans
2015
Based on these plans, potash markets and other
factors, we perform our final financial investment
evaluation. This will be the crucial turning point
when we decide whether or not to proceed with
the project.
If the decision is made to proceed, then:
2015
We begin construction.
2016
We continue construction and begin solution
mining activities.
2019
We finish construction and begin processing plant
production.
2059 - We start to think about closing the mine and
2089 remediating the mine site. If and when we get to
this point, we will ensure your grandchildren are
kept informed of the wind-down process.
2
Buildings for Sale
The Kronau Project will be selling vacant houses
and unused grain and farm storage buildings for
removal. These residences and buildings were
purchased along with the land for project
implementation. As the Project does not have a
need for these buildings, we are hopeful that
others may have use for these structures and
can assist us in minimizing waste. The sale will
be held as an unreserved online auction by
McDougall Auctions and will close July 28, 2014.
Viewings will be held on July 11 & 25 from 9:00
a.m. to 4:00 p.m.. Check McDougall’s website for
full details www.mcdougallbay.com.
Cover photo: Over 150 students from five neighbouring communities
around Vale’s Kronau Project, took part in the First Nations Youth
Science Fair co-sponsored by Vale. Geologist Tara Fuchs discussed how
we protect water when we drill.
July 2014
Kids experiment with the world around
them in mind
What do iPods, microscopes, pipelines,
rock samples, a gymnasium and 150 or so
grade-schoolers have in common?
They were all part of an interactive science fair Vale cosponsored earlier this month to inspire First Nations youth
to learn more about the environment and natural
resources.
“This was the first science fair of its kind. In fact, Vale
actually came up with the idea and pitched it to the onreserve school of Muscowpetung First Nation. Vale has
always believed in investing in the minds and
opportunities of the young people of the communities
where we work. It was truly a privilege for us to help with
this event,” said Lara Ludwig, community relations lead
with Vale’s Kronau Project.
Council, First Nations University of Canada, Moose Jaw
Watershed Stewards and the North Saskatchewan River
Basin Council. Elders from all five communities were also
present.
While there were prizes, like iPods, to be won for visiting all
the exhibits, a more important win was to influence
participants to take an active role to protect the
environment.
“I don’t conserve water, but after a day like today I will. It’s
important because there is only a little bit that is actually
consumable,” said Chenoa Poitras, a grade eight student
who attended from Pasqua First Nation.
As one of the organizers, we also aimed to introduce kids
to career opportunities that may not always seem
accessible to people who live in smaller communities.
The science fair, co-sponsored by Vale and SaskWater,
attracted students from five neighbouring First Nations
communities of: Piapot First Nation, Standing Buffalo First
Nation, Muscowpetung First Nation, Pasqua First Nation,
and Peepeekisis First Nation.
“The fair seems to have inspired some new career goals
among the students, with some coming away expressing
an interest in becoming environmental lawyers or pipeline
engineers,” saidKimBlanchard,principaloftheMuscowpetung
school, which hosted the event. “We sparked some interest
out there and now we need to consider how to further
support and inspire these career paths.”
The focus was on water resources and the environment:
students moved in groups to visit interactive exhibits set
up by Vale, SaskWater, Wildlife Federation of Saskatchewan,
Engineers Without Borders, File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal
Vale is committed to enriching the communities where we
work and not only in terms of jobs and investment. We
also believe in investing in the minds and opportunities of
the young people of our communities.
July 2014
3
The Great Loreburn Debate
Environmental lead Jason Ash explains how science was used to assess Vale’s Kronau Project.
As any parent knows, kids
make the best critics.
They approach every situation with no preconceptions
and with tons of good questions an adult might be afraid
to ask. That’s why Vale put its Kronau Project to the test
against our toughest audience yet – a group of grades 6
and 7 students from Loreburn Central School.
On January 17, our team members took questions from
Loreburn students who had held a debate on the merits of
the Kronau Project.
The debate was an initiative by Mrs. Brenna Siroski, the
senior science teacher at the school.
“In class, we were discussing different types of mining, the
model of the earth, soil types and so forth. I thought a
debate would be a great fit for this group of students as
these students like to discover information on their own
especially if it is relevant to something that they know.”
According to Siroski, the students were most interested in
4
questions about water: Where it was going to come from?
What are the long term environmental effects at the
mining site and the surrounding area? The students were
also interested in learning how the mine’s proposed
infrastructure would affect the hamlet of Kronau.
The class debate ended up favouring the pro-Kronau
Project side but Siroski emphasizes that the project wasn’t
about winning or losing the debate but rather the process
of learning how to debate an issue intelligently. The
debate gave students a chance to hone their skills in
research, writing and public speaking.
Siroski noted that she and her students appreciated Vale’s
participation.
“My students were very impressed that a company like
Vale would send people out to talk to us about what we
were doing in the class. They also thought Vale’s
presentation was very informative and cleared up a lot of
misunderstandings they had picked up from media stories.
As a teacher, I very much appreciated that they took the
time to come and speak with our students.”
July 2014
Ground Matters: Vale’s Plans and
Projections for Subsidence
As we get closer to putting the Kronau Project into
production, one technical term you will hear more often is
subsidence. It’s pronounced “Sub side ants” so you might
be tempted to think it has something to do with leaving
your sandwich out too long at a picnic but, of course, it
doesn’t.
Subsidence is, basically, just a technical term for soil
sinking. At this point, most of you will be familiar with the
basic idea of solution mining. In a solution mine, water is
pumped underground where it dissolves a clump of
potash. The water is then pumped back up to the surface
where the potash is processed out of the water. It’s a much
cleaner, more economical and less disruptive approach to
mining potash than digging it out.
While solution mining is better in many ways, it has a small
down-side which is easy to see. The new empty spot
underground puts things in motion for slow-motion
sinking of the surrounding soil to fill in the gaps. That’s
what we mean by subsidence.
This is not a major problem. Even though this is a small
problem, it is still one that we take very seriously at Vale.
Subsidence typically only affects a small area of the
surface directly above the mined deposit with perhaps a
small margin around it, and it takes a very long time to
happen (hundreds of years). We have done extensive
research into the potential effect of subsidence in the area
of the Kronau Project.
our mining area. When examining how this would look
over the entire area, this would be equivalent to a slope of
20 centimeters over the length of a football field.
Due to the time it will take for the maximum predicted
subsidence to occur, our scientists and engineers have
determined that there will be no negative effects on water
flows or local buildings. Since it is unlikely that we will
actually mine all three potash beds throughout our entire
mining area, there is a good chance we will never reach
the maximum predicted subsidence effects.
The Government of Saskatchewan has determined that
our estimated subsidence are acceptable according to the
province’s strict regulations.
Future Work
We’re considering using satellite and laser survey
technologies to measure the Earth’s surface over our
mining area. The changes we’ll be looking for are so small
and happen so gradually, there are very few techniques
that are able to measure them. Since mining-induced
subsidence happens slowly, our projected reporting
schedule on subsidence would be once every three- to
five years.
We are also researching innovative techniques that reduce
our predicted subsidence effects further and minimize the
salt disposal area.
Predictions
As part of our environmental impact assessment for the
Kronau Project, Vale imagined worst-case scenario
subsidence in all three potash beds (Esterhazy Potash Bed,
Belle Plaine Potash Bed and Patience Lake Potash Bed).
Our studies showed the maximum predicted subsidence
after 100 years would be 5.5 metres in the centre of our
mining area and around two metres near the outside of
July 2014
If you have further questions or
comments on this important
topic, please let us know.
5
Community Profile
From time to time the Vale Voice will profile a local leader who is making a
difference for the community, the province and the Kronau Project.
In this issue, we chatted with
David Sloan, a grain farmer
whose family has been
farming in the Richardson
area for over 100 years. Sloan
is also the chair of the
Saskatchewan Association of
Watersheds (SAW).
(Left to right) David Sloan, SAW Chair, presents the Saskatchewan
Watershed Award to Joel Miller, Mayor of Avonlea.
Did you know: a watershed is the region of land
that drains into a specific body of water, such as a river, lake,
sea, or ocean. It is the entire geographical area characterized
by all run-off being conveyed to the same outlet.
6
July 2014
What is SAW?
SAW is the non-profit umbrella group for the watershed
associations across the province. We are volunteer memberdriven associations focused on advocacy, education and
communication about watershed protection in
Saskatchewan.
Our member associations cover the entire Saskatchewan
River and Assiniboine River basins which takes in basically
all of southern and central Saskatchewan.
What sorts of members belong to the
watershed associations?
Members of watershed groups include grassroots
organizations like rural and urban municipalities, nonprofit organizations such as Ducks Unlimited Canada and
Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, agricultural groups,
industry, individuals and land owners. SAW itself is made
up of representatives from 11 watershed associations.
What sorts of things do SAW and its
members associations do?
Watershed associations have a number of programs to
help educate the general public. They sponsor programs
in schools, such as a poster contest, to teach students in
grades four to six about the importance of watersheds. We
also produce a newsletter and other informational pieces
for watershed protection.
Member associations are involved in advocating and
educating about local best management practices such as
water management for cattle producers and
decommissioning of abandoned wells. We also look at
issues like adaptation to climate change, mitigation of
floods and retention of wetlands.
SAW hosts an annual conference where we bring in
speakers and present information on water issues. We have
also begun to present an annual Watershed Stewardship
award at the conference. This year the award went to the
Village of Avonlea for their innovative system of
developing wetlands as part of their sewage treatment
system.
July 2014
In a nutshell, what’s the main message you
would like people to know about watershed
issues?
We would like to see people have a better understanding
of the true sources of their water. Water is obviously an
integral part of our lives. If you asked people if they’ve
used water today, I’m sure 100 per cent would say yes. It’s
vital to life, vital to business, vital to everything we do. Its
uses are endless. Yet, in spite of its importance, most
people either have no idea, or a limited idea, of where
their water comes from. For example, if you asked most
people in Regina where their water comes from, the best
informed might say Buffalo Pound. In fact, the water that
feeds Buffalo Pound Lake can be traced back to the Rocky
Mountains via the South Saskatchewan River. For local
watershed information about watershed protection in the
different areas of Saskatchewan see the SAW website:
www.saskwatersheds.ca.
How would you rate Vale’s performance on
water issues?
They have done as well as can be expected. In fact, Vale is a
leader in the potash industry by stepping up to the plate
in support for watersheds. They have been a major sponsor
of our annual conference for the past two years. Watershed
protection could be more effective if the other potash
companies were as supportive of the watersheds as Vale is.
7
In the Community
Vale is committed to being a good neighbour.
Vale believes in making social investments and public
partnerships in the communities where we operate. In the
first half of 2014, Vale’s Kronau Project team supported:
• Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Camp (First Nations
University of Canada)
• Boggy Creek Wildlife Federation
• Kronau Curling Club
• Kronau Playground Revitalization
• Muscowpetung School’s First Nation Youth Science Fair
• North American Indigenous Games
• Saskatchewan Association of Watersheds
• Saskatchewan Ducks Unlimited
• Saskatchewan Red Cross
• Skate Canada
• Treaty 4 Pow Wow
• Western Canada Water
Vale's Red Cross Day of Pink sponsorship went to SUNTEP
students. Alicia Gervais (left) and Daylyn Benoit (right) are both
second year students with SUNTEP Regina. SUNTEP is a four-year
Bachelor of Education program.
Have a project you’d like us to consider supporting?
Learn more about our local funding/exclusion criteria
and apply online at: www.valepotashcanada.ca. We
respond (one way or another) to all online funding
requests. However, it can take up to three months for us
to evaluate requests, so apply early!
Contact Us
Get to Know Vale
For all general inquiries contact:
Vale is a global mining company that discovers and
transforms minerals into the essential ingredients for
everyday life. Vale Potash Canada Limited is an indirect
wholly owned subsidiary of Vale S.A. (Brazil).
Corporate Office
1874 Scarth Street, Suite 1900
Regina, SK S4P 4B3
+1 (306) 791-4510
Email: [email protected]
www.valepotashcanada.ca
The Vale Voice is a Vale Potash Canada Limited newsletter
that provides updates on our company and the Kronau
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