Fred Stanford, president of Vale Inco Ontario operations, is no longer with the company.
With 28 years of experience in mining and operations plus his leadership capabilities, it will be a huge loss, says one administrative officer with the company.
There is currently some restructuring on the administrative level across Canada, he says.
“The whole thing with Fred leaves even more uncertainty,” he says, shying away from speculation as to why it happened.
“His leadership style, his involvement with the community – it will be definitely missed.”
John Pollesel, vice president of sustainability and business services, has been named the interim president until a plan has been agreed on and finalized.
Vale Inco recently went through management restructuring where one level of management was gone. He says the same kind of plan may be in the works for all of the Canadian operations.
“Maybe then we will need someone in charge of all Canadian operations that has his hand in mining and processing operations.”
A message from the president to employees on June 10 stated a number of measures have been put in place to secure both immediate and long term health of the company, with respect to the nickel operations around the globe.
“Our efforts are working but more remains to be done. Over the next three months additional restructuring will occur in our global nickel business along with further alignment and simplification of management systems and processes globally. Managerial positions and functions will bear the initial impact of this effort and there will be fewer people going forward in these roles than there are today.”
It goes on to say each of the nickel operations have been assigned specific performance improvements targets designed to position them as cash flow positive and will be achieved through decreased operating and capital costs.
“It is critical that each business unit become self sustaining such that they are able to fund their operations, capital investments and future growth on an ongoing basis.”
Cory McPhee, director of corporate and public affairs, whose boss Jennifer Sloan, executive vice president of corporate affairs also left the company in April, verified Stanford's retirement.
He says the company has been going through management restructuring for the past eight months here and across the globe to ensure a sustainable future.
"How this will play out will be too early to tell," McPhee says.
Going forward, it is all about aligning processes and sustainability with the company's mandate and some people will naturally exit the business as a result, he says.
The main focus is to ensure there is a longterm future for Vale's nickel operations.
