BY CRAIG GILBERT
Inco Ltd. held a meeting Wednesday evening to discuss its plans to build a $100-million oxygen plant with its neighbours in Little Italy.
Most residents only received notification of the meeting a day or two before the event. Less than 20 people were in attendance.
Inco is gearing up to build a new oxygen plant on its property close to the North mine.
The current plant was built in the 1950s and is located right in Copper Cliff?s Little Italy.
Residents often complain of noise at the plant, particularly during its annual cleaning.
The new plant will be farther away from the residential area and only needs to be cleaned every three to five years.
There was no ill will in leaving the ward councillors out of the loop, according to Inco spokesperson Cory McPhee.
?We had a meeting in January with residents to tell them the plans,? he said. ?In hindsight we could have involved (Councillor) Eldon Gainer or Terry Kett. I?m sure when I talk to him and explain things it?ll be fine.?
The company has been having meetings with the residents of Little Italy every six months for some time now, according to McPhee.
The first meeting on the future plant took place in January.
?The events got out in front ahead of us,? said McPhee. We really just wanted to tell them we?re starting now.?
Site preparation work is taking place right now. Blasting and rock removal is to begin in September.
At the meeting, the residents were given a schedule for the blasting, which is to take place four times per day.
The old plant will be kept running concurrently for about six months to make sure all the bugs are out of the new plant, McPhee said.
The new plant will require fewer workers to run, but layoffs are not part of the equation. There are enough workers eligible for retirement to account for the lost jobs at the plant, according to McPhee.
Oxygen is central to Inco?s smelting and refining processes.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s the nickel giant spent about $600 million in an effort to reduce the amount of sulfur dioxide it releases into the environment.
One of the key changes was switching from reverbatory furnaces to oxygen flash smelting furnaces, McPhee explained.
?If the oxygen plant is down, we?re shut down.?
Ward 1 Councillor Terry Kett says he feels he is the only person in Sudbury left in the dark about Inco?s plans.
?The one person they didn?t talk to was me,? Kett said Thursday.
I got a phone call form one woman in Copper Cliff saying ?Terry, are you going to the meeting?? ?
