Vale has launched a website for suppliers interested in bidding on contracts related to its $2-billion Clean AER atmospheric emissions reduction project.
The website – www.valecleanaer. com - includes information about already-awarded contracts, contracts currently up for grabs and future opportunities.
It also includes a description of the procurement process. “It came about as a result of a request from our suppliers and services sector in Sudbury,” said Vale Clean AER project director Dave Stefanuto.
“They wanted to understand a little bit more about the project, what some of the opportunities are and the timing of the opportunities in terms of when they can participate.”
While many of the contracts already have “pre-approved” bidders, the site benefits smaller companies because they can see who those bidders are, he said.
For companies interested in providing a service as a sub-vendor, the website identifies who they have to approach.
The site is managed by the procurement team at Vale and updated whenever there is new information. The Clean AER project will involve a complete retrofit of Vale’s smelter converter aisle, the construction of a new secondary bag house, a wet gas cleaning plant, a second acid plant, and new material handling facilities to better prevent dust from entering the community.
When the project is completed, Vale’s sulphur dioxide emissions will go down to 45 kilotonnes per year, versus the regulatory limit of 66 kilotonnes per year.
That represents a 70 per cent reduction from current levels.
The company also aims to reduce its dust and metal emissions by another 35 to 40 per cent. Vale recently announced it is pushing back the completion date for the Clean AER project from the end of 2015 to the beginning of 2016 due to depressed nickel prices.
“The world has changed since we kicked off the project on June 22,” he said. “We have to recognize the business realities of today and work within those constraints.”
Vale also wants to make sure it gets the construction work right, Stefanuto said.
“What we’d like to do is take a little bit more time to operate our first converter, understand how it operates, and not jump into the fabrication and installation of the subsequent equipment and then find out that some of our assumptions were wrong.”
DeStefano said his members don’t mind the Clean AER project taking a little longer. With the contracts being spread out over a few more months, it means SAMSSA members won’t have to hire so many people at once to complete contracts, he said.
