Mining

Young Sudbury entrepreneur Brad Wright has tied a green lining around the cloud of layoffs at Vale Inco, transforming his focus from mining to renewable energy through 3e Solutions, his new company.

As the price of nickel slowly continues to edge upwards, so too are the fortunes of Liberty Mines Inc. Officials are once again working to bring the Timmins-area mines back into production.

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.

Sudbury-based Novenco Consultants Ltd. has made a name for itself in the mining, construction industries

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.