“We want to create the next 100 years in the Sudbury Basin by bringing to light new mines and re- nergizing our existing mines,” said John Pollesel, general manager of Vale's Ontario operations.

“However, we must radically shift our cost structures. Certainly, this is a challenge that will not be easy, and engineering smart and sustainable mine ventilation solutions will be essential to our success.”

Presently, ventilation at Vale’s Sudbury operations consumes between 40 and 50 per cent of a mine’s operating budget.

Other challenges that compound ventilation costs are mining at depth, stricter regulatory controls with respect to emissions, and escalating energy prices.

Vale is conducting research and contributing financially to initiatives through the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) and the Diesel Emissions Evaluation Program (DEEP), a mining research consortium. In addition to equipment costs to extend ventilation in deeper mines, operational expenses increase as well.

“The majority of our reserves in the Sudbury Basin are below the current infrastructure and at depths where there will be significant costs and operational challenges to mine,” he said, adding that as they mine further from the shaft bottom, mining costs will increase approximately two to five per cent annually.

Recent ventilation expansion and upgrade programs at the Creighton and Coleman Mines totalled $126 million.

More stringent environmental regulations mean Vale must spend between $1.5 billion and $2 billion to comply with SO2 emission and particulate standards by 2015. In Ontario, current exposure limits of diesel particulate matter will experience a 70 per cent reduction from 1.5 milligrams per cubic metre (mg/cu) to 0.4 mg/cu. As Vale uses more than 800 diesel-powered machines in its Sudbury mines, this will be a challenge, Pollesel said.

In preparation for changing regulations, the company has worked for the last decade with a variety of groups on DEEP.

It was concluded that biodiesel helped reduce emissions, but could not singularly meet targets. Particulate filter systems were the best options for achieving low levels of DPE (diesel particulate emissions) at reasonable costs.

“We’ve recently launched a new diesel particulate filter-testing program for lightduty vehicles at Creighton Mine,” Pollesel said. “The filters being tested contain a fully automatic regeneration unit which automatically initiates the regeneration process. It reduces particulate...and the system is extremely reliable, resulting in less required maintenance and no down time during operations.”

The Rail-Veyor and ventilation-on-demand technologies are also being initiated. The Rail-Veyor is an electrically-run material transport system that "brings the shaft to the ore." It can fit in smaller drifts, eliminating diesel trucks. It makes drifts easier to ventilate, safer and more economical to estimate in the hard to reach areas of mining, he said