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(Facility) Copper Cliff Smelter

Plant in Ontario, Canada with commodities Cobalt, Nickel
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Nearby scientific data
  7. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  8. Mining district
  9. Ownership information
  10. Production statistics
  11. Links to other databases
  12. Bibliographic references
  13. General comments
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10181911
MAS/MILS ID 1220401058
Record type Site
Current site name (Facility) Copper Cliff Smelter

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Town
Geographic coordinates: -81.01648, 46.49999 (WGS84)
Location accuracy 10000(meters)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Alaska(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

Geographic areas

Country State
Canada Ontario

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Cobalt Critical Secondary
Nickel Critical Primary

Nearby scientific data

Town (1) -81.01648, 46.49999
ListMap

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Processing Plant
Development status Plant
Commodity type Metallic
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1883
Year of first production 1902
Plant type Smelter
Plant subcategory Smelter-Pyrometallurgy
Milling method Pyrometallurgy Unspecified

Mining district

District name Sudbury

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Inco Ltd.
    Interest 100
    Home office Canada
    Year 1991

Production statistics

  • Year 1990
    Description Inco Canada Ops; Ni Metal And Oxide 109200 Tonnes Ni Contained
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Major Nickel Nickel 109200mt

Comments on the production information

  • 14% CU CLIFF PRODUCT IS 75% NI OXIDE SINTER. FINAL DESTINATIONS IN % OF CU CLIFF 65% MATTE ARE: NICKEL OSIDE TO CLYDACH CARBONYL REF. = 23%. TO CU CLIFF REF. = 44%. TO KOREA ZINC = 11%. TO TAIWAN NICKEL = 10%.

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • NICKEL AND COPPER CONCENTRATES REPORT TO SMELTER. SMELTER PRODUCES NICKEL OXIDE, NICKEL MATTE, AND BLISTER COPPER. NICKEL SMEL TER HAS CONVERTERS, MATTE SEPERATORS, ROASTERS AND CHLORINATION DUCTION UNITS. COPPER SMELTERS INCLUDES FLASH FURNACES, CONVERTE RS.

Comments on other economic factors

  • A SEPARATE NICKEL AND COPPER CONCENTRATE ARE PRODUCED BY THE MILLS. MILLS OPERATING IN 1991 ARE CLARABELLE AND CU CLIFF. NI CONC. IS NI 10%, CU 2.2%. CU CONC. IS NI 12%, CU 30%. HOWEVER, CONCENTRATE GRADE FLUCTUATES WITH ORE PURITY AND PENTLANDITE CONTENT. INCO PLANS TO MERGE NICKEL AND COPPER CIRCUITS BY 1995 IN ORDER TO SIMPLIFY PROCESSING. COPPER CLIFF REFINERY ALSO RECEIVES MATERIAL FROM INCO MANITOBA OPS. - APPROXIMATELY 10 KMT NI CONTAINED. THIS IS SMELTER CAPACITY IS 120 KMT NI/YR. REFINERY IS 57 KMT NI/YR. SMELTER CAPACITY WITHOUT POLLUTION CONSTRAINTS IS 155 KMT NI/YR.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Production

    OPERATIONS FLOWSHEET. 1984.

  • Production

    EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY OF NICKEL & COBALT. 1988. EDITED BY

  • Production

    G.P. TYROLER AND C.A. LANDOLT. "INCO'S COPPER CLIFF

  • Production

    NICKEL REFINERY". BY WISEMAN, BALE, CHAPMAN, AND

  • Production

    MARTIN. PP. 373 - 390.

  • Deposit

    INCO MINING AND DISCOVERY. PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT,

  • Deposit

    ONTARIO DIVISION. INCO LTD.

  • Deposit

    COBALT, RESEARCH REPORT BY FEDERAL INSTITUTE FOR EARTH

  • Deposit

    SCIENCES AND RAW MATERIALS AND THE GERMAN INSTITUTE FOR

  • Deposit

    ECONOMIC RESEARCH, 1978, APPENDIX 4, PAGE 1.

  • Deposit

    1978 E/MJ INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORY OF MINING AND MINERAL

  • Deposit

    PROCESSING OPERATIONS, P. 241.

  • Deposit

    NICKEL, ENERGY, MINES AND RESOURCES CANADA, MINERALS, MR

  • Deposit

    157, 1976, P. 2,14.

  • Deposit

    NICKDATA, INC. A COMPREHENSIVE NICKEL INDUSTRY COST DATABASE

  • Deposit

    AND COSTING PROGRAM. 1991. ILMAR J. MARTENS,

  • Deposit

    THOMAS F. TORRIES.

  • Deposit

    BUREAU OF MINES INFORMATION CIRCULAR. 1991. TABLE 7.

  • Deposit

    AVAILABILITY OF PRIMARY NICKEL IN MARKET - ECONOMY

  • Deposit

    COUNTRIES. A MINERALS AVAILABILITY APPRAISAL.

  • Deposit

    DONALD I. BLEIWAS.

  • Deposit

    DUPLICATE OF SEQ # 122041037, WHICH WAS DELETED, 05/26/94.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit COPPER CLIFF MINE WAS OPERATING PRIOR TO 1902, WHEN INCO WAS FORMED FROM THE CANADIAN COPPER COMPANY. SUDBURY WAS THEN ONLY A COPPER OPERATION.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 22-DEC-94 Bleiwas, Donald U.S. Bureau of Mines

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Operator history (post-MRDS)

MRDS records operators as of each record's last update (≤ 2019). Some of the operators listed here have since changed hands or dissolved:

  • Inco Ltd. — acquired by Subsidiary of Vale (2007)
    International Nickel Company; acquired by Brazilian miner Vale in 2007 for ~US$18 B.

Curated by qvyshift.com from publicly-reported M&A activity (SEC filings, press releases, USGS Mineral Yearbooks). Not authoritative — verify against primary sources before relying on it. The MSHA panel above is the current authoritative source for actively-permitted mines.

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