Inco Ltd. and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador jointly announced on June 11 that they have entered into a statement of principles on the development of the Voisey's Bay nickel-copper-cobalt deposits in Labrador.
The non-binding statement of principles with the province provides for the development of a $470-million (US) mine and mill/concentrator processing plant at Voisey's Bay, and a $120-million (US) research and development program in hydrometallurgical processing, including an $85-million (US) demonstration plant at Argentia.
Inco expects that infrastructure, site development and other work will begin in July 2002. The project is expected to create about 2,000 jobs and pump more than $1.9 billion (US) into the local economy over the 30-year deal.
The province has allowed Inco to temporarily ship ore to smelters in Sudbury and Manitoba while the processing plant in Voisey's Bay is being developed. The province and Inco expect to complete the agreement to implement terms of the statement of principles by the end of September 2002. The legislature still has to ratify the deal.
