The second-tallest structure ever constructed in Ontario and all of Canada — the enormous Inco Superstack in Sudbury — will be demolished in the coming years.
The towering chimney, standing an imposing 381 metres (1,250 ft) above Vale’s Copper Cliff processing facility in Sudbury, is currently the tallest chimney in Canada. For reference, it is just one foot shy of the iconic Empire State Building in New York City.
The Inco Superstack previously held the record of the world’s tallest chimney from its completion in 1971 until 1987, when it was overtaken by the Ekibastuz GRES-2 Power Station in Kazakhstan.
While it no longer holds that title, it remains the tallest of its kind in Canada, standing taller than any building in the country and surpassed only by the iconic CN Tower in Toronto.
This dominance will soon come to an end, though, as Vale Base Metals announced Wednesday that it will move forward with a meticulous dismantling of the massive chimney by as early as 2029 and as late as the early 2030s — an inevitability that was sealed in 2020 when the stack was decommissioned to reduce emissions
Demolition works at the adjacent Copperstack have already begun, and Vale has released a video update on the process as well as preliminary plans for the Superstack’s subsequent dismantling.
Vale Base Metals’ Director of Operations Gord Gilpin acknowledged that the chimney and its smaller sibling have stood as “iconic landmarks in Greater Sudbury for decades” in a news release announcing plans for the massive chimney’s removal.
“While we appreciate that the city’s landscape will look different after these structures are dismantled, our business has evolved and improved over time and this project is part of that evolution,” continued Gilpin.
“We are modernizing our facilities and reducing our environmental footprint and, in so doing, laying the groundwork to ensure that our next century of mining in Sudbury is as successful as our first 100 years,” he added.
The Superstack’s fate may be sealed, but the behemoth chimney is set to live on in the form of a commemoration, with Vale currently seeking public submissions for some type of recognition, like a monument or mural.
