Mining

If Vale Inco resumes any form of production while Steelworkers members are on strike, it would mean “war in Sudbury,” according to Wayne Fraser, director of District 6 for the United Steelworkers Union.

FNX Mining Company Inc.'s net earning for the second quarter were announced in a recent financial and operational report. The second quarter brought in $12.5 million on revenues of $61.9 million, compared to net earning of $11.3 million on $112.

With $32 million in hand, including $18 million raised in March alone, few people are as confident in the exploration potential of the Kirkland Lake area than Charles Page, president and CEO of Queenston Mining Inc.

Swiss mining giant Xstrata plc has seen profits slip 77 per cent through the first half of 2009 against the same period the previous year, due in part to the low price of nickel, lower volumes and rising inflation.

The executive director of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA) said Vale Inco is becoming much more rigid about how it purchases mining supplies from his members.

Vale SA, the world's leading iron ore producer and second-largest nickel producer, has seen a 42 per cent drop in its net income between the first and second quarters of 2009, attributing it in part to the rising costs and the weakning US dollar.

Contract issues may separate Vale Inco and striking United Steelworkers at the company's Sudbury and Port Colborne operations, but it's the market that will likely cause the strike to drag on, according to a senior economist with Scotia Capital.

Contract issues may separate Vale Inco and striking United Steelworkers at the company's Sudbury and Port Colborne operations, but it's the market that will likely cause the strike to drag on, according to a senior economist with Scotia Capital.

The United Steelworkers (USW) have formed a partnership with CUT Brazil, one of the country's largest industrial labour unions, to support workers in negotiations with Vale in both countries.

A northeastern Ontario quarry on Lake Superior has been given an approval by a provincial planning tribunal to start mining aggregate.