CVRD invests $66M in Sudbury.

CVRD has approved "the largest investment program ever undertaken ... by any mining company in the world," but 80 percent the money earmarked for 2008 will be spent in Brazil and New Caledonia.

Of the $11 billion the company plans to invest next year, $7.5 billion will be spent on new projects and $2.5 billion on support for existing operations.

Of the $7.5 billion, $66 million will be allocated for Totten Mine, west of Sudbury.

The Goro project in New Caledonia, touted as "one of the largest deposits of lateritic nickel in the world," will account for $723 million of spending in 2008. Two other lateritic deposits in Brazil--Onca Puma and Vermelho--will see spending of $672 million.

Together, these three new mines will boost CVRD's annual nickel production capacity by 164,000 tons per year.

The company's biggest capital spending project in Canada is the recently approved hydrometallurgical nickel refinery in Newfoundland, which will process nickel concentrate from Voisey's Bay that is now being shipped to Sudbury and Thompson, Man., for conventional smelting.

CVRD will allocate $110 million for the Newfoundland refinery in 2008, and expects to spend a total of $2.2 billion during the four years it will take to build and commission it.

The $2.5 billion CVRD plans to spend supporting existing operations "is explained by the growth in the asset base and the need to increase significantly investments in the Canadian nickel operations, which had received little investment in the past," the company stated in a news release last week.

Just over $1 billion will be spent on supporting existing nickel operations, but no details were provided.

In addition to reaffirming its capital spending plans for Totten Mine, CVRD will continue to fund studies now underway for the proposed Copper Cliff Deep and Creighton Deep projects, said Angie Robson, CVRD Inco's manager of external relations for Ontario operations.

"Though they're not specifically mentioned (in the news release), there are a number of feasibility studies in various stages," she said.

"In 2007, we spent $50 million on exploration and strategic studies to pursue these projects. That spending is going to continue in 2008.

"We've been mining in Sudbury for 100 years and we're continuing to go deeper and find new ore, so it's just a matter of doing the due diligence and pursuing the studies in order to gain final approval on these projects.

"Sudbury is a very attractive place for CVRD. They recognize the value that's here and that's why they're continuing to invest heavily in our operations."

Totten Mine will be brought into production by June 2011 for a total cost of $362 million. It is forecast to produce 11,200 tons of copper, 8,200 tons of nickel and 80,000 ounces of precious metals per year over a 20-year mine life.

The $11 billion capital spending plan for 2008 is part of an ambitious five-year, $59-billion investment program.

Of the $11 billion, CVRD will spend $3.6 billion on nickel and copper projects, $3.2 billion on iron ore, $755 million on aluminum and $1.9 billion on logistics.

"The decision to invest on such a huge scale is firmly based on our confidence in the long-term fundamentals of the global economy and the belief in the structural change in the demand for minerals and metals," the company stated.

By 2012, CVRD plans to almost double nickel production--from 260,000 tons in 2007, to 507,000 tons.

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