After decades of trying to airbrush the super stack out of the picture, the community is boasting about mining again in 2004.
Politicians, bureaucrats and business leaders are listening to economists who say, ?we got it, so flaunt it.? There are efforts to capitalize on the city?s expertise in mining and mining services and supplies to the world.
Last spring, Northern Ontario Business launched a new publication called Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal?a sign of the times.
Quite simply, 2004 was a fantastic year for the nickel industry in Greater Sudbury and around the world.
And that means it was a very good year for both Inco Ltd. and Falconbridge Ltd.
The average realized price of nickel on world markets averaged in excess of $6 per pound (US) over the past 12 months.
Early in the new year, both nickel giants are expected to announce huge year-end profits for 2004.
Officials for both Inco and Falconbridge are on record as saying the outlook for the future heading into 2005 continues to look extremely bright.
A big reason for such optimism is the tremendous demand for nickel around the world, in particular in China.
The upcoming year should also be very exciting for Inco because almost 10 years after spending more than $4 billion to purchase the Voisey?s Bay nickel deposit in Labrador, the nickel giant is expected to finally reap financial rewards. The first deposits from Voisey?s Bay are expected to be extracted from open pits this spring.
It wasn?t all rosy in the nickel industry in Greater Sudbury in 2004 as 1,100 production and maintenance workers from Local 598 of the Mine Mill/CAW went on strike for three weeks early in 2004.
The membership voted 93 percent in favour of accepting a new three-year deal in late February. The strike was about securing long-term job security for the membership.
The bargaining committee achieved all of its goals to ensure production and maintenance work on future major projects will be done by Local 598 members and not by contractors, said union president Rick Grylls.
?All production and maintenance work will be done by the CAW employees, which keeps intact the 60-year relationship we?ve had with Falconbridge under our collective agreement.?
Another huge nickel industry story in Greater Sudbury in 2004 was construction started full-bore on Falconbridge?s $500-million Nickel Rim Mine, located just south of the Sudbury Airport.
It?s going to take another three years to build the largest mine developed in the Sudbury region in 20 years.
Full production is expected at Nickel Rim in late 2007 or early 2008.
Falco also is investing $200 million in the West End operations near Onaping.
These developments will boost Falconbridge?s Sudbury production by 65 percent.
At year end, Inco announced it would shut down its main Copper Cliff smelter complex for one full month to conduct regular maintenance and repairs
next May.
The shutdown will mean Inco will not be able to produce an estimated 20 million pounds of nickel and 25 million pounds of copper.
The shutdown will include general maintenance, but also detailed work to allow the company to connect smelter operations to the new oxygen plant being built in Copper Cliff.
Local 6500 of the United Steelworkers of America filed a grievance and expects an arbitrator will have to decide if the shutdown must take place in May or can wait until July or August, when the union says all scheduled maintenance shutdowns should take place.
Another huge nickel industry story locally and nationally is the reported sale of Noranda Inc., the major shareholder of Falconbridge Ltd., to the Chinese-government controlled Minmetals.
Reports Minmetals Corp. is prepared to offer in excess of $7 billion to purchase 100 per cent control of Noranda, Canada?s largest mining company. The deal has yet to be completed.
~ Keith Lacey
