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MINING INDUSTRY SINCE 1935

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Vale

Vale is a global leader in the sustainable development of natural resources and is one of the world’s largest and most diverse mining companies. Vale’s Base Metals Division, headquartered in Toronto, is one of the industry’s largest producers of nickel. Operating in Canada for more than 100 years, with more than 5,000 employees, Vale’s goal is to continue its growth profitably, but only within a safe, environmentally respectful and sustainable environment. Vale is committed to meeting or exceeding MAC’s recommended TSM targets and is pleased to submit this summary of its 2022 performance.  Vale’s North Atlantic Operations encompass 5 operating jurisdictions in Canada and include:

  • Vale Manitoba Operations – Thompson
  • Vale Ontario Operations – Sudbury
  • Vale Ontario Operations – Port Colborne
  • Vale Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Long Harbour
  • Vale Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Voisey’s Bay

TSM reporting is completed for each of these operations as well as for the Corporate Office in Toronto, Ontario.

Indigenous and Community Relationships

Open and transparent communication, respectful engagement on concerns and issues, and diligent reporting to stakeholders are all firmly entrenched as the way in which Vale operates with Indigenous communities and other communities of interest. Vale proudly operates Indigenous and community outreach activities and management programs in all its Canadian facilities, each tailored to the site and the neighbouring communities’ requirements. 

Vale’s Thompson Operation achieved a level AAA for 3 of the 5 indicators.  A Level AA was achieved for the Community Impact and Benefit Management indicator.  Here, Vale needs to implement decision-making processes to empower COI to manage adverse impact mitigation and benefit optimization after productive life of facility ends and collaborate with affected COI on reviewing the effectiveness of actions.  The Thompson Operations saw a drop from a level AA to a level A for the COI Response Mechanism indicator.  While the operation has a Community Concerns Hotline with a Response Protocol and documented follow-up with COI, improvements are required in developing the response mechanisms collaboratively with COI with annual reviews to identify opportunities for continuous improvement. 

In Sudbury, Vale achieved a level AAA for 3 of the 5 indicators.  A level A was achieved for the Community Impact and Benefit Management indicator.  Vale’s Sustainability Policy commits to being a Sustainable Operator, Local Development Catalyst and Global Sustainability Agent. Social impacts are identified and controlled through BWise Mitigation Controls. Vale contributes to several organizations to benefit a broad spectrum of the community. Contributions are discussed at the Community Liaison Committee. Benefits are included in the agreements and include consideration of procurement and employment. These contributions are noted in the Report to the Community. To improve on this score, Vale needs to collaborate more with COI to empower these valued communities to influence decision making, such as where contributions to the community are made.  For the COI Response Mechanism indicator, a level A was achieved.  As in Thompson, A Community Concerns Hotline is in place and is supported by a documented Response Protocol. Concerns from the hotline are documented and followed-up and tracked. Reports are provided monthly to the Base Metals Executive Committee and COI are proactively informed on how to access the response mechanism.  To improve on this score, Vale needs to develop the response mechanism collaboratively with COI and review the mechanism annually.

Lower scores at Vale’s Port Colborne facility in Southern Ontario reflect the fact that Indigenous groups have historically not been included as COI in this region.  Recently, some engagement and dialogue with newly identified Indigenous communities has occurred and processes are being developed to engage more fully.  As a result, Vale achieved a level A for the Community of Interest (COI) Identification and the Effective COI Engagement and Dialogue indicators.  A level B was achieved for the Effective Indigenous Engagement and Dialogue indicator.  Vale improved its score for the Community Impact and Benefit Management indicator from a level B to A, driven by commitments to the community related to an extensive Community Based Risk Assessment and a Community Improvement Fund provided to the City of Port Colborne.  A level A was achieved for the COI Response Mechanism indicator as a Community Concerns Hotline is in place and is supported by a documented Response Protocol. Concerns from the hotline are documented and followed-up and tracked. Reports are provided monthly to the Base Metals Executive Committee. COI are proactively informed on how to access the response mechanism.  Relationships with Indigenous communities in this area of Southern Ontario need to mature and follow the successes achieved at other Vale operations to improve overall scores for this facility.

The Long Harbour Operations achieved a level AAA for 4 of the 5 indicators.  For the COI Response Mechanism indicator, the site dropped from level AAA to A.  A Long Harbour Community Concerns line and email concerns line is in place and concerns are also raised through the Community Liaison Committee (CLC) and meetings with the Long Harbour Town Council. Concerns from the Concerns Line and email are documented and followed-up and tracked. Reports are provided monthly to the Base Metals Executive Committee. Questions raised at the CLC are documented and responded to in the meeting minutes. COI are proactively informed on how to access the response mechanism.  To improve, Vale needs to review the established response mechanism annually and this system is required to have a post-process follow-up with mechanism users. 

For the Voisey’s Bay site, Vale’s established Impact and Benefits Agreements with Indigenous communities in Northern Labrador and years of respectful and successful community relationship building has earned this operation a level AAA for all indicators.

Biodiversity Conservation and Management

Vale maintains its commitment to continuous improvements under the TSM Biodiversity Conservation Management Protocol.  After well over a century of mining in the Sudbury region, Vale has garnered international recognition for its restorative rehabilitation practices aimed at improving biodiversity in this region.  Biodiversity improvements at Vale’s other Canadian Operations build on these successes while tailoring efforts to local conditions and community expectations.

Vale’s Thompson Operations achieved level AAA ratings in all indicators.  An improvement from AA to AAA for Indicator #1 Commitment, Accountability and Communications was acheived as there is a stated ambition for no net loss and Vale actively partners with other organizations for biodiversity conservation.

In Sudbury and Port Colborne, a drop from AAA to AA for Indicator #3 Biodiversity Conservation Reporting reflected a lapse in public reporting on COI feedback.  All other indicators achieved a AAA rating.

Vale’s Long Harbour and Voisey’s Bay operations maintained level AAA ratings for all indicators.

Energy Use and GHG Management

Vale has made aggressive carbon reduction commitments consistent with the Paris Accord and has implemented a process of managing, accounting for and reporting energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.  The Sustainability Policy and Climate Change Policy demonstrates senior management commitment. An Energy Use and GHG Emissions Management System is in place and energy use and GHG emissions are reported regularly to site and corporate leadership and publicly as part of Federal and Provincial reporting programs.  Investigations on GHG reduction technologies for all operations in ongoing. 

In Thompson, Indicator #1 Management Systems was decreased from AAA to A as the energy use and GHG emissions management systems have not be subject to internal or external verification.  Indicator #2 Reporting Systems was increased from AA to AAA as the scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reporting is externally verified, and some scope 3 emissions are included in the Vale Sustainability Report.  Indicator #3 Performance Targets was decreased from AAA to A as the facility was unable to meet its energy use and GHG emissions performance targets in three of the past four years.  For improvement, internal and external verification of the energy use and GHG management system is required, and the facility must meet its targets.

At the Sudbury Operations, level AAA was achieved for all indicators while in Port Colborne, a drop to an A rating for Indicator #3 Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Performance Targets was achieved as the facility did not meet its energy and GHG emission targets in one of the previous 4 years at the time of reporting/verification.

Both the Long Harbour and Voisey’s Bay operations achieved level AAA for all indicators in this protocol.

Safety and Health

At Vale, life matters most, and the company’s commitment to this core value is reflected in its TSM Safety and Health Protocol assessments, which confirm continued high performance at all sites. 

Vale’s Thompson operations achieved level AA ratings for all indicators, reflecting an improvement in 3 of the 5 indicators.  In Sudbury, level AA ratings were maintained for the Commitment and Accountability, Planning and Implementation and Performance indicators while a level AAA was maintained for Training, Behaviour and Culture.  For indicator #4 Monitoring and Reporting, an increase from level A to AA was achieved due to an internal audit being conducted in 2021. 

At Vale’s Port Colborne operations, level AA was achieved for all indicators, which included an increase from level A on indicator #4 Monitoring and Reporting and a decrease from AAA in indicator #3 Training, Behaviour and Culture.  Here, Vale needs to evaluate its safety and health trainers for effectiveness to return to a AAA rating.

At Long Harbour and Voisey’s Bay, level AAA was achieved in indicator #3 Training, Behaviour and Culture and AA ratings in indicators #4 Monitoring and Reporting and #5 Performance.  Both operations decreased to level AA from AAA in indicators #1 Policy, Commitment and Accountability and #2 Planning and Implementation, as external audits for these facilities confirming demonstrated commitment to health and safety were not completed. 

Vale is currently working to engage a third-party external auditing process to encompass all locations across North Atlantic.

Crisis Management and Communications Planning

Crisis management planning and preparedness is a critical component of Vale’s risk management activities. Vale’s crisis management teams are well trained and are willing to respond to internal emergencies and provide aid the community when necessary. Testing of the crisis management system is regularly conducted at all sites.

Vale’s “Sudbury Alerts” program was a finalist for the 2018 MAC TSM Excellence Award and was awarded the Emergency Services Recognition Award from the City of Greater Sudbury.  The Sudbury Alerts Program is a mass public notification service that enables Vale and the City to instantly send safety messages to the public, regardless of whether the emergency is associated with Vale’s operations. Sudbury Alerts is fully integrated into the local 911 command center and communications network.

At the Thompson and Voisey’s Bay Operations, the MAC requirement for familiarizing new members of the Crisis Team with the plan within two months of joining the team was not being consistently met and outstanding training was completed over the TSM 2022 Verification duration.  Vale must ensure new members of the Crisis Team are familiarized with the plan (e.g., completed training) within two months of joining the team and ensure refresher training is completed in a timely manner.

All remaining sites as well as Vale’s Corporate offices satisfied the requirements of the TSM Crisis Management and Communications Planning Protocol.

Tailings Management

Vale North Atlantic is committed to the goal of being a global leader in tailings management through the efficient deployment of monitoring technology and governance techniques aligned with the Best Available Technology and Best Applicable Practices, ensuring safety and reducing risk for all stakeholders.  Our participation and deployment of the Mining Association of Canada tailings management indicators supports the achievement of this goal.

Internal audits were completed at all sites that have tailings facilities using the MAC TSM requirements and its criteria.  In all cases, the internal audit confirmed MAC requirements were met.  However, all of Vale’s sites failed to complete an external audit resulting in a broad decrease in scores from the previous verification audit for all indicators to Level A.  An external audit, with an evaluation of effectiveness will be conducted in 2023 to address this requirement. 

The Port Colborne facility does not have any tailings storage.

Water Stewardship

Vale is focussed on improving water recycling at its North Atlantic operations as part of an effort to achieve a 10% water intensity reduction by 2030 (using the year 2021 as a baseline).  Supporting water stewardship efforts is recent ISO 14001 Certification at both the Long Harbour and Voisey’s Bay operations and a plan to have the Manitoba and Ontario operations certified by end of 2023.

The Thompson operation achieved level A rating for indicators #1 Water Governance and #2 Operational Water Management and a level AAA for indicator #4 Water Reporting and Performance.  The operation sets water performance targets and these are documented on the Vale Website.  Progress on these targets is reported to senior management and public reporting of performance against targets is included in the Vale Sustainability Report.  Data in the Sustainability report is independently verified.  For indicator #3 Watershed Planning, the facility achieved a B rating.  As the Province of Manitoba has recently identified a larger watershed region (the Hudson Bay Draining Sub-basin), the site needs to engage with new watershed COI to identify and prioritize water-related risks and opportunities.

The remaining Vale sites including Sudbury, Port Colborne, Long Harbour and Voisey’s Bay had scores ranging from level A to AAA for all of the indicators. 

Vale Corporate Office – Toronto, Ontario

Protocols evaluated for the Corporate Office included the Crisis Management and Communications Planning and Prevention of Child and Forced Labour protocols.  Vale successfully met all of the MAC TSM requirements for both these protocols. 

Self-Assessed Results

2023 TSM Results

Vale

Crisis Management and Communications Planning Assessment
Facility Crisis management and communications preparednessReviewTraining
Vale – Corporate
Manitoba Operations – Thompson
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Long Harbour
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Voisey’s Bay
Ontario Operations – Port Colborne
Ontario Operations – Sudbury
Results as of: Jan 04, 2024
Preventing Child and Forced Labour Assessment (Pre-2024)
Facility PREVENTING FORCED LABOURPREVENTING CHILD LABOUR
Manitoba Operations – Thompson
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Long Harbour
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Voisey’s Bay
Ontario Operations – Port Colborne
Ontario Operations – Sudbury
Results as of: Oct 21, 2019
Note: These requirements are assessed every three years during the external verification.
Safety and Health Assessment
Commitments and accountabilityPlanning and implementationTraining, behaviour and cultureMonitoring and reportingPerformance
Manitoba Operations – Thompson
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Long Harbour
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Voisey’s Bay
Ontario Operations – Port Colborne
Ontario Operations – Sudbury

AAA

AA

A

B

C

Results as of: Dec 15, 2023
Tailings Management Assessment
Tailings management policy and commitmentTailings management systemAssigned accountability and responsibilityAnnual tailings management reviewOperation, maintenance and surveillance (OMS) manual
Manitoba Operations – Thompson
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Long Harbour
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Voisey’s Bay
Ontario Operations – Sudbury

AAA

AA

A

B

C

Results as of: Dec 15, 2023
Biodiversity Conservation Management Assessment
Commitment, accountability and communicationsConservation planning and implementationReporting
Manitoba Operations – Thompson
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Long Harbour
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Voisey’s Bay
Ontario Operations – Port Colborne
Ontario Operations – Sudbury

AAA

AA

A

B

C

Results as of: Dec 18, 2023
Water Stewardship Assessment
Water governanceOperational water managementWatershed-scale planningWater reporting and performance
Manitoba Operations – Thompson
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Long Harbour
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Voisey’s Bay
Ontario Operations – Port Colborne
Ontario Operations – Sudbury

AAA

AA

A

B

C

Results as of: Jan 04, 2024
Indigenous and Community Relationships
Community of Interest IdentificationEffective Community of Interest Engagement and DialogueEffective Indigenous Engagement and DialogueCommunity Impact and Benefit ManagementCommunity of Interest Response Mechanism
Manitoba Operations – Thompson
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Long Harbour
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Voisey’s Bay
Ontario Operations – Port Colborne
Ontario Operations – Sudbury

AAA

AA

A

B

C

Results as of: Dec 20, 2023
Climate Change Protocol Assessment
Corporate Climate Change ManagementFacility Climate Change ManagementFacility Performance Targets and Reporting
Vale – Corporate
Manitoba Operations – Thompson
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Long Harbour
Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Voisey’s Bay
Ontario Operations – Port Colborne
Ontario Operations – Sudbury

AAA

AA

A

B

C

Results as of: Feb 14, 2024
International Initiatives
Industry Sustainability Initiatives
ICMM Sustainable Development Framework
WGC Conflict Free Gold Standard
ISO 14001 - EMS Standard
Management System Standards
OHSAS 18001
UN Global Compact
International Voluntary Initiatives
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights
OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
AA 1000
Reporting, Disclosure and Transparency Standards
Global Reporting Initiative
CDP
Water Disclosure Project
Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition
IFC Social and Environmental Performance Standards
Financing Standards
Dow Jones Sustainability Index
Listed on Socially Responsible Investing Indices
Jantzi Social Index
Responsible Jewellery
Industry Sustainability Initiatives
International Cyanide Code
Kimberley Process
Results as of: Jun 26, 2019

Letters of Assurance

Vale | 2022 | TSM Letter of Assurance

Vale | 2018 | TSM Letter of Assurance

Vale | 2015 | TSM Letter of Assurance

Vale | 2012 | TSM Letter of Assurance

Vale | 2009 | TSM Letter of Assurance

Vale | 2006 | TSM Letter of Assurance



Verification Summary Reports

Vale | Vale – Corporate | 2022 | Verification Summary Report

Vale | Newfoundland and Labrador Operations – Long Harbour | 2022 | Verification Summary Report

Vale | Ontario Operations – Port Colborne | 2022 | Verification Summary Report

Vale | Ontario Operations – Sudbury | 2022 | Verification Summary Report

Vale | Manitoba Operations – Thompson | 2022 | Verification Summary Report



Historical TSM Results

TSM Results 2023

TSM Results 2022 (Externally Verified)

TSM Results 2021 (Externally Verified)

TSM Results 2019 (Externally Verified)

TSM Results 2018 (Externally Verified)

TSM Results 2017

TSM Results 2016

TSM Results 2015 (Externally Verified)

TSM Results 2014

TSM Results 2013

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