The Inco mine at Sudbury, Ontario – digging into a layer of sulfuriferous rock to reach the remains of an ancient metallic bolide rich with copper and nickel. This image clearly shows what is the largest smokestack in North America, and the second tallest on earth.
It spews out sulfur dioxide produced by Inco’s Copper Cliff smelting operation — and is probably the single largest point-source for acid rain-causing emissions on the entire continent.
"Toronto-based Inco, the world’s second-biggest nickel producer, got its start in Sudbury in 1902 and today runs a vast mining, smelting, milling and refining complex in the region that employs some 4,500 people." The Globe and Mail
"When nickel-copper ore is smelted, this sulfur is released into the environment. The sulfur is toxic to vegetation. Carried aloft, it combines with atmospheric water to form sulfuric acid. This contaminates atmospheric water, resulting in a phenomenon known as acid rain. Acid rain erodes rocks and masonry, kills plants, and acidifies soil, discouraging regeneration of vegetation. In the Sudbury area, vegetation was decimated, both by acid rain and by logging to provide fuel for early smelting techniques. The erosion exposed bedrock, which was charred in most places to a pitted, dark black appearance." source
In the 1950s and 60s, Inco and Falconbridge employees had to fight their companies for the right to unionize.
"Labour issues would continue to be Sudbury’s dominant economic challenge. In 1979, Inco workers embarked on a strike over production and employment cutbacks, which lasted for nine full months. As Inco was by this time Sudbury’s largest employer, the strike decimated Sudbury’s economy." source
Inco is currently embarked on a campaign to break the hardrock mining union, the Subury local being one of Canada’s strongest.
The high concentration of metals found in the Sudbury Basin are believed to be the remnants of a 1,850 year old meteorite impact crater. When this meteorite smashed into Canada’s Precambrian Shield, transition metals like platinum were formed in the resulting extreme heat and pressure.
Somehow, an unusually high concentration of sulfur wound up in the mix as well. Smells rotten.
During the Apollo program, NASA astronauts trained in Sudbury to locate the shatter cones formed during the impact. There weren’t there because Sudbury strangely resembled the lifeless wastelands of the moon.
The moon doesn’t smell like anything.
You can still see the sulfur pond and tailings from an unbelievable height. What is harder to see in this image is how breast cancer rates are much higher for the populations downwind of Sudbury than for the regions to the west. No one is sure why.
Water looks beautiful from space, especially in Canada. That’s the Georgian Bay to the south and large Lake Nipissing to the east. The smaller, dark body of water directly northeast of Sudbury is Wanapitei Lake.
Thanks to Nat Vaprin.
Sprol Revisit: Sudbury previously appeared in Like a Neon Sign.
Yuk! It looks like people live around there too…..
BTW, I visit this sight often – thank you for your work. We can say all we want about the the destructive nature of this culture, but you go us a step further and show us.
Sudbury is NOT one of the worst places on earth.
The Sudbury region has more lakefront per person that any other area you’ll read about.
I lived there for four years. Over the past 15 years or so the vegetation has been coming back and the lakes are also rejuvenating. The worst damage was done early in the history of smelting when it was done in open burning piles, and the large amount of deforestation is because the lumber was cut for the smelting.
Anywhere near the business end of that smokestack, is in trouble. Go and look at the images again if you don’t believe me.
It’s one reason that Inco has announced plans to shutter a 140 person smelting operation by the end of this year.
It’s true that the situation in Sudbury has relatively improved somewhat, environmentally, in the last decade.
But many, many people submitted this place as a candidate for this site’s coverage of the Worst Places in the World. That’s got to mean something.
Dear Inco,
I am a Geological Technicien, and i am greatly interested in your company. I have previously worked in a Gold Mine. Although, because of budget cuts, River Gold Mine, Eagle River Project, was forced to give me a layoff. I have my common core and am familliar with programs such as AutoCAD and Microsoft, among other things. Can you possibly give me a fax number where i could send in my resume, along with other bits of information which might help me to get employment with your company. Thank you for your consideration and devoted attention.
Sincerely, Jon Gosselin
hope you email Suzuki ,mabe his comments would get more people intrested ,Your doing a good thing ,making people aware of the facts,our country is in bad shape and no one seems to care!!
I dont know how anyone could live around there! i think i would die becuse i wouldnt be able to breath
i luv ur site!!!!!!!!
I am really insulted by your comments. I’ve lived in Sudbury my entire life and I am very happy here. How many of the people making these comments have actually been to Sudbury in past few year? There has been great development in the commercial sectors and tourism. We are not only miners! There are many working opportunities for students coming out from the University in Sudbury. Also, my father is a foreman at an INCO mine and it insults me for some of you to be insulting our way of life. Before you judge Sudbury as the worse place on Earth, go visit Science North and Dynamic Earth with your kids and see exactly what we have to offer. Until then, save your breath.
I’ve been to Sudbury recently…loved Science North. It has improved markedly since I first visited in the 1970’s. Many of the lakes in the area, long dead from melter emissions, have even been brought back to life.
That doesn’t make things ideal though, far from it. Environmental problems from the past are still having an impact, and present practices may be better but they still pollute. There is also an attitude of denial among miners; many of whom still consider themselves outdoorsmen, if not environmentalists; when it comes to the damagae that has been done.
First, the meteor crashed 1.8 billion years ago, not 1800 years ago.
My dad was a miner at Falconbridge, about 20km from Sudbury. As a child I swam in Garson Dam. That old community haunt now has a chain link fence with “Danger” signs closing it off from the public. Well, it was only 100’s of metres from the old Garson Mine!
I grew up in Sudbury before the Superstack was built and remember the burning white smoke we had to breathe if the wind was blowing the wrong way. I remember the burning eyes, the smell, the nausea. Much as I loved the landscape – such a poignant one – I was very happy to leave the place at 23.
I’ve been detoxifying heavy metals and sulphur dioxide for the last three years. Through homeopathy I’ve been able to cleanse one metal at a time. The most serious and painful leechings have been sulphur dioxide, nickel, arsenic, cobalt and now copper. They can stay in the system a long time. Nickel, copper, arsenic, cobalt, selenium & lead have been the metals of concern in the recent Sudbury Soils Study.
I’ve read that inhaled metals are actually more dangerous than any other kind of exposure. I had a chest wall deformity and have read that respiratory trauma can cause this. I’ve also read that working at a toxic site might affect a man’s sperm (my dad was a miner) and contribute to congenital deformity. I remember other anomalies friends and schoolmates had.
Also, metals are neurotoxins. I don’t believe they always come out as physically obvious health problems (though there seems to be a lot of cancer in Sudbury). From what I’ve learned and experienced, there are neurological issues that can manifest as psychological qualities or problems. I’ve seen it in my family, myself and in a mindset I associate with Sudburians in general.
I was in Sudbury just over 3 years ago. Perhaps it’s better than it used to be, but Inco is still the largest polluter in Ontario. I am pretty darn sure those neurotoxins still have some effect on Sudbury and on the places the Superstack now takes the smoke.
Nicely Said!
My name is Candace and I lived in sudbury most of my life.
My Father worked at Creighton Mine. I am appalled and disgusted by the way one of the largest companies in the world can kill the earth and the people in it.
I just moved back up from Mississauga with my Boyfriend in February. When we arrived, we stepped out of the car and both noticed that the air wasn’t quit right. It is now getting past mid summer when it rains you can smell the sulfur.
My mother is pretty ill from this. We moved to Manitoulin Island in 99 for better air quality. She has been in and out of the hospital numerous times for the past 10 years. She has many illnesses so just to name a few…Kronic Asthma, Thyroid both types hypo and hyper. She is now doing much better but she can never live a normal life. She has a battery powered Nebulizer. It pumps her lunges full of medication to keep her alive. If it gets really bad she needs to take prednazone which is a steroid that makes her shake because her heart beat faster while helping her breath. For 8 years she was on them 9-12 a day every day and my mom is a small person standing at only 5′2. 5 pills would be enough for a racehorse to win.
My mom is a real trooper she fought to live Halloween night in 97. She wasn’t feeling well and called our neighbors daughter over to give out the treats, at about 9pm Sylvie had to call an ambulance, my mom collapsed on the floor and wasn’t breathing at all how your supposed to. That is just one the many scares that she and the whole family had. Just before Christmas in 04 she was cleaning the bathroom with a new cleaner. 5 minutes later she had an Asthma attack, after taking 3 Nebulizers with ventlin, steroids and other medication her lunges gave up. She fell to the floor not breathing. Thank God that my father and brother were there or she wouldn’t be here today. Her heart stopped for over 2 minutes. My dad preformed CPR and got her back. After that she was flown to North Bay where she was in a drug induced coma for over a week so her body could recuperate from the damage. It took her over 1.5 years to be able to get the mail at the end of the 50′ driveway.
My mom is not a home body she likes to be out in the fresh air and going places but when she goes into a public place she is worrying about perfumes, if their are fresh flowers, animals, dust, and cleaning agents. Her eyes get bright red and water then an Asthma attack.
I hope they shut the Smoke Stack down and give other opportunities to the residents. We have much unusable land that would be perfect for energy generating windmills, solar panels and recycling plants. INCO has the nutreno observatory which I think cost them over $100 million. They have the money to implement green energy and environmental regulations that do not allow the poisoning of the enviroment.
I don’t know if the idea I have would make a difference but it sounds like it would work. I see the info-mercials for pure air filters using electromagnetic or ion inducted metal plates that attract the pollutants out of the air. Just make a larger version with hydraulic scrapers that clean the plates with a mild solvent spray. Around the middle of the stack have a carbon fiber sheet that can be rolled up automatically into a casing on the side of the stack. It would catch the falling toxins and they could be disposed of in a better fashion then throwing it into the air. With a shute on the side of the stack it can transport the waste to bins which can be made of a air, leak and corrosion prufe housing. I believe that this would cut down the pollution by a very large margin.
I would like to do something more then just get angry and frustrated about this issue. I think about not having children because of this. The world is being killed along with everything in it. The climate changes ie. Hurricanes, tornadoes, storms and the polar ice caps mealting. Many people do not realize that we have totally F#$KED up our future and this beautiful place. People are not going to be around if we don’t do anything about this abomination. I am not souly blaming this on INCO it is but one of the millions of other environmental killing companies . They know what they are doing but they are too greedy to change. You can still turn a profit and prosper being green. We rely too much on fossil fuels. Hydrogen is a pure fuel that gives back to the environment. The exhaust is water, if the engine didn’t need synthetic oil you could drink it.
But enough of my ranting and raving about this issue.
If anyone would like to contact me about my opinion and ideas please feel free to do so.
My email is bubblez_1984@hotmail.com
I am interested in others input on the subject. If anyone is wondering what I’m going to do I’ll give you a little hint. Emailing and sending letters to all the Canadian companies that contribute to this.
Thank you for reading
Candace
Lots of misinformation about Sudbury. I’m an Inco Geologist and have lived in Sudbury all of my life! Do more homework before you write stuff about a company and a city. Obviously lots of people are taking this seriously!
Lots of stuff does not make any sense. Check your facts! I’m not saying that your totally wrong, but stuff like the age of the impact, geology, NASA astronauts looking for shatter cones and environmental issue!
For all of those who like to bash INCO, I’m afraid that you are being hypocrytical! Please log off your computer and go and recycle it! You’ll do everyone a favour!
To Chris whom last posted.
My Grandmother lived in Sudbury for 70 years and she had horror stories about the air and everyone living here.
Read my post just above yours if you want to know more about what has happened. That is just the tip of the ice berg. Sudbury is a great place to live now because we have the SuperStack but what are we doing to the people, animals and plants up wind? Maybe being a Geologist you know about the rock inside the mines. I have been in Creighton and some levels do smell a little like sulfar. But that is raw material no smell should even be noticable but it is.
Also check the weather patterns of recent years. We are now getting storms comming out of nowhere tornatos, thunder storms etc. and that is only in ontario. Look to the North and South the Polar Ice Caps are melting and the would is not going to be around for us much longer. People seem to believe that nothing bad is going to happen. Just to let everyone know it already has.
P.S. I am not bashing INCO I’m bashing ALL of the polluting companies that are killing everyone. Like I said in my prev post my Father worked there for many years. I want talk to the CEO about my ideas and how to make life in the world healthier.
Candace
If I were looking for a job at Inco. in Sudbury Ontario how would I apply or put in my resume. Do you have an e-mail that I can send my resume to or do I have to apply in person.
Go to http://www.inco.ca
lol
mabee if people would not be so dependent on companies such as inco or other mining companies they would not be causing the end of the world because there would be no need to mine nickel and precious metals so any one who uses material made from there products should not cast stones they should rid themselfs of any product they own that was made by any material of this evil corperation this would include your little smart cars wich is made of metal mined out of sudbury rock don’t forget to turn off your computer and send it in for recycling because there is metal and copper in there to and don’t forget your stainless coffee mug and so on and so on. although inco is not enviromentally freindly they have made great gains in my community with there regreening efforts and enviromental policy’s it’s apparent they will still pay for sins of the past and not acomplishments of tommorow
i’m not saying its perfect here, but it is definitely a very nice place to live. the comments made are not relative any longer. inco has done much to regreen and clean the air. the air quality in large cities such as toronto are much poorer than ours here in sudbury. you are bashing our city without proper knowledge. you should go to the site http://www.inco-sudbury-airquality.com and see how much things have changed since the early years of mining here. people like you give sudbury a bad reputation that it does not deserve. you forget to mention that we have the largest city contained lake in north america and blueberries and other vegetation is abundant. if it was so bad do you think all of these things would thrive here? you should check your facts and God forbid actually visit the places you speak negatively about!
My father worked at Inco and died as many did, Industrial Illness, Cancer, back in the late 80ès
there was limited medical attention available in Sudbury, this was very unfortunate.
If there are any others please contact me.
Thanks
Well said Jason. No one should be bashing Inco or Sudbury since almost every person on this planet has used a product with Nickel from Sudbury’s mines. From AA batteries to coffee cups, from the US to Japan.
You should be thanking the locals who live and work in this “Worst Place on Earth” because someone has to live there and someone has to extract the nickel for the computers and other products you’re using.
If Sudbury is such a terrible place, it’s not because of INCO, it’s because of you. Anyone who knows the company, knows that they do a lot of work and spend a lot of money trying to make their work as environmental as possible. As long as people are needing nickel however, they’ll always be there extracting it from the earth because someone has to do it.
I am 29 years old, born and raised in sudbury, and now I work for INCO, and for now means whatsoever do I feel you are even remotely justified in implying that I, or any of my co-workers, are responsible and are going to pay for the “sins of the past”, as you so eloquently phrased it, and we have an incumbent responsibility to look to the future to improve, and everyone seems to forget that when they don’t stop and think, and, like it or not, the world needs metals and minerals, period.
i feel realy insulted by these comments m with Jessica creighton mine has been with us 4 almost 106 years so u just shut it ok sudbury is the best place on earth it has a neutrino lab and a scinece north and a dynamic earth!!!! is there anywhere else in the world with a big nickel or a neutrino lab?????? no there not so will u just shut up evryone that insulted my town id like to see where u live i bet u its dusgusting
@Jessica:
Your brain has clearly been affected by the neurotoxins that are so abundant in your area. One can only hope only your spelling abilities are impaired.
I don’t think the neutrino lab is going to save you either…
” breast cancer rates are much higher for the populations downwind of Sudbury than for the regions to the west. No one is sure why. ”
…we do know why. it’s called the super stack. and POLLUTION.. yeah, you need to get some of your facts straight. sorry.
Actually I have lived in or near Sudbury/Copper Cliff and currently live only 10 minutes from the main site and yes I have had some days of suffering from the sulfer in the air but those are few and far between. The city is beautiful and INCO has done an exceptional job on regreening the city. I have watched this city grow since I was 4 years old (now 41) and it becomes more beautiful each year. Congratulations Sudbury.
I stumbled across your 2005 article about “the Inco Mine†while conducting a search and it was to my absolute horror that I learned this grade-school-level article about Sudbury was written by somebody with some semblance of a university education. The information you provided in this blurb between uninteresting photos is wrought with untruths and even worse leaves out so much information that it is painful to read. There are dozens of mines around Sudbury (only a few of which are owned by Inco) and the photographs that you featured in your article are of the Smelter Complex (nowhere close to any of the mines). FYI – Sudbury is a beautiful, green city, surrounded by clean, fresh-water lakes that has gained world-renowned recognition for it’s accomplishments in reducing air pollution since the 1970s. Your article is definitely a sad reminder that anybody who can use two fingers to type can post their thoughts on the internet. How incredibly disheartening.
Will this be the nail to seal the coffin for hybrid vehicles? The enviro-kooks heads are spinning off their bodies. If they buy an “eco-friendly” car they supposedly use less fuel and save the earth; however the materials used for the battery in their beloved hybrid need to be mined and supposedly cause even more damage to mother earth. What’s a hippie to do? Maybe a federal grant could be set up for a feasibility study to determine if the centrifugal force of all those spinning heads is increasing or decreasing the rotation of the earth. Time will surely determine everything.
I moved to Sudbury when i was young, coming from a small town this mining thing was a new world to me. I resided in Sudbury for 13 years and aside from the odd day when the air stunk, Sudbury was (and still is) a great place to live, i visit every chance i get. I live in Alberta now working for Syncrude, mining the oil sands. Now if you think that sudbury’s bad take a trip to Fort McMurray. This little mining city is largest in the extraction of oil, attracting people from all over the world to come and work here. Sure the money is good but would you rather have money or your health? You should see some of the stuff coming out of the stacks here.
As a french student looking for the golden fleece to pay my university tuition…I have been working in an haywire mine near Sudbury named Kidd copper mine..It was 40 years ago…I am planning to come over to put mt foot in my old souvenirs tracks..Could someone help me to locate it and to let me know if that mine still exist..
André of Paris /France
Loved living in Sudbury.
It was toxic, however. Getting better, but nothing can really help the situation.
Sulfur days in the 90’s sucked!
Funny, as I check the AQI (air quality index) for ontario, there’s only one city with a yellow “warning” level – Toronto. It seems that Sudbury is average for Ontario cities.
I am an American investor looking for safe investments in commodities. After reading the foregoing comments – I will not invest in Inco. Just look at what happened to the companies that worked with asbestos. Many were fine companies that did the best they could with than current knowledge involving asbestos. The lawsuits continue for long years after the dangers of the product were fully understood and recognized.
ODINOT – do you mean the Kidd Creek mine?
http://archive.xstrata.com/falconbridge/www.falconbridge.com/our_business/copper/operations/kidd_creek.htm
this is it – it’s still operating, although the smelter has been suspended recently.
Iv lived in sudbury for 20 years now and
theres nothing wrong with the way we live or how we live I love this town !
To all those who are giving negative feedback about Sudbury and have lived there/ been there. Just keep in mind that it was your choice, or some distant relatives choice to like there. The entire township was founded there BECAUSE of the ore deposits that were there, not the other way around.
So I feel for your losses and medical issues, but if you really cared that much, you would move. Sudbury is one of the largest Ni/Cu producing mines in the world besides Norlsk in Russia. They arent going to close it down. The world relies too heavily on the minerals deposited there.
Stop whinging…
Hi,
I was born in Sudbury. It is a city with hard working people, vibrant outdoor life and a new outlook on development and environmental reclamation. I no longer live there but My Grandparents and father have deeper roots in fact my dad installed the first traffic light!
Before someone can truly judge how someone or something is one should know all of the facts
Thanks,
[...] route can fundamentally improve the process…. FYI, nickel mining in Sudbury, Ontario: Sprol The Inco Mine at Sudbury, Ontario __________________ University of Toronto Formula SAE Alumni 2003-2007 Formula Student [...]
[...] only helps spread the acid rain further across the land. The damage can be seen in photos here. Consumers need to take into the account the damage they are supporting when they buy a hybrid car. [...]
Hate it so much? Quit using every piece of technology that contains any type of nickel, copper, platinum, palladium, gold, silver, almost every valuable metal.
Only way you will live up to what you say is if you quit supporting the company.
Walk your ass to work.