Sudbury, Ont., mayor not fazed over what tariffs could mean for nickel mining

Sudbury's mayor says he's not worried that an ongoing trade war between Canada and the United States will hurt the city's nickel exports to the south.

"I believe critical minerals, which obviously we are endowed with here in Greater Sudbury, play a role to maybe bridge that divide that we are currently living with the U.S. administration," said Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre.

"For them to realize the importance that they can't source this in the U.S."

Lefebvre noted that the U.S. only has one active nickel mine, located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and it would take years, if not a decade, for that country to open more mines for the critical mineral.

The ore from that American mine is also processed at a facility owned by mining giant Vale, in Sudbury.

While Sudbury's two nickel miners – Vale and Glencore – could be shielded from tariff threats, they have been hit by low nickel prices, which are currently hovering around $7 US per pound.

At a talk hosted by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Gord Gilpin, Vale's director of Ontario operations for base metals, said the company had to recently lay off some workers to remain competitive, but did not say how many. 

"You know we're facing a real need to simplify our business and as a consequence of that, unfortunately we've had to make some tough, tough choices, but they are for the better of the business longer term," Gilpin told reporters after his keynote address.

But Lefebvre said both Vale and Glencore continue to invest in mineral exploration in the region, with the former investing $250 million over the next three years to find new deposits.

Lefebvre added that he sees potential for Sudbury to build a nickel sulfate processing plant, which is a key component of electric vehicle batteries.

Vale is building such a plant in Bécancour, Que., which will be the first of its kind in Canada.

The plant will use nickel pellets and rounds from its refineries in Sudbury and Long Harbour, N.L. and dissolve them in a mixture of sulfuric acid,  hydrogen peroxide and water to make the nickel sulfate.

Lefebvre said he's been in conversations with business leaders and the chiefs of nearby Wahnapitae First Nation and Atikameksheng Anishnawbek about moving ahead with such a facility in Sudbury. 

"I've been advocating for this as another level of keeping our ore, our nickel here for longer as we can do the advanced processing and create the jobs that we deserve here," he said.