By IAN ROSS
CVRD Inco’s new face of Sudbury mining is really an old hand from across town.
Parviz Farsangi, the former manager of Falconbridge’s (now Xstrata Nickel) Sudbury mines and mill business is now the new Chief Operating Officer of CVRD INCO.
He replaces Mark Cutifani who left last month to become CEO of AngloGold Ashanti in South Africa.
Farsangi returns from a two-year stint in Louisiana as president and general manager of Gramercy Alumina, an aluminium refinery near New Orleans.
He now oversees all of CVRD’s wholly-owned subsidiaries including Canadian operations in Thompson, Man., Voisey’s Bay and two plants in the United Kingdom.
These are exciting and prosperous times to come back with as new mine, mill and exploration projects are under development and Inco’s Brazilian parent is providing the cash to make it happen.
Sudbury is getting a portion of the $11 billion CVRD Inco plans to invest globally.
In 2008, $7.5 million of CVRD’s $66 million global budget is earmarked to go into the development of Totten Mine under construction west of Sudbury, it’s first in more than 30 years.
Totten is projected to produce 11,200 tons of copper, 8,200 tons of nickel and 82,000 ounces of precious metals, when it goes into production during the second quarter of 2011.
“But that’s just a piece of the pie,” says Farsangi, “The rest is going on assets and development of some other projects,” with an emphasis on growing tonnage by expanding mill capacity.
The company is also doing the engineering work and making a business case for a “strategic shaft” -- Copper Cliff Deep -- to connect and eventually replace the mature North and South mines as well as tap into a new ore body nearby Kelly Lake.
Funding for ongoing work at the Creighton Deep project will continue.
“The best way to stay here long term is spend money on the quality and condition of assets,” says Farsangi.
He is no stranger to many in Inco management having spent seven of his 20 years at Falconbridge in Sudbury.
During the third week of October, Farsangi was back in town meeting with senior managers to familiarize himself with the various operations and re-introduce himself to suppliers and labour leaders.
What’s impressed him most is the improved attitude and the degree of employee involvement. “That wasn’t our strength in Sudbury.
“We’ve come a long way in attitude and how positive people are. It’s easy to be positive when you’re growing, but fundamentally they’re involved in the decision-making process.”
On the issue of any future operational collaborations with Xstrata Nickel in the Sudbury mining camp, and a possible joint venture, Farsangi would only say, “teams on both sides are working very hard to see if some benefits are there.”
Some Sudbury politicians have wanted local miners like Inco to cough up money to repair the city’s legendary crumbling roads.
Farsangi replies Inco’s biggest contribution is “making sure we’re staying for the long term and paying taxes to ensure good roads.
“We hiring a lot of new employees, we’ve been very involved with the community and in some strategic areas we’ve put a substantial amount of money.”
The company continues to invest heavily in exploration with $50 million spent in the last five years.
Farsangi says he sees opportunity in every project to extend existing ore zones and find new ones.
Though based out of the company’s Toronto headquarters, his family, wife Sally, and teen-aged kids are glad to be back in Canada, excited by the company’s growth potential.
“Clearly this is the No. 1 company in growth and they really mean it, backed by some sizeable investment. Nothing else even comes close.”
While living in Louisiana, about a half-hour’s drive outside of New Orleans, the Farsangi’s got up close and personal with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita which devastated most of the Gulf Coast in 2005.
The refinery and his home 40 kilometres inland received minimal damage but some employees living close to New Orleans were impacted.
The sustained winds were like nothing he had ever experienced before.
“With a hurricane like that you have to make sure you go into your closet, don’t stay where the windows are.
"We were lucky, we had big enough closets that we slept there.
“It was a good experience but we knew we were going there for two to five years,” he says. “Canada is our home.”
