N.L. Vale work halted by mysterious waste

Work near the site of the new Vale nickel processing plant in Long Harbour, N.L., stopped after some workers reported that exposure to a substance uncovered at the site made them ill.

Long Harbour Mayor Gary Keating said Monday that contractors were landscaping a pile of slag left over from the area's former phosphorous processing plant when they found a drum containing an unidentified substance.

"Their eyes started to water and they had some sort of like, headache," said Keating.

He said the workers who were exposed to the substance appear to be OK, but Vale has launched an investigation.

Electric Reduction Company of Canada Industries Ltd. (ERCO) operated a phosphorous processing plant in Long Harbour from 1968 to 1989.

Vale doesn't own the site, but is paying to have the waste material graded and seeded as part of an agreement it signed before building a nickel processing plant in Long Harbour.

Vale announced it will build a nickel processing plant in the area, valued at more than $2 billion, in November 2008. It hopes to complete the plant by 2013. The hydromet plant will have a permanent workforce of about 450 employees.

More than 3,000 workers will be needed to work on the project during the three-year construction phase.