Vale To Restart Production At Sudbury

Brazilian miner Vale is to bring in outside workers at its strike-bound Sudbury nickel and copper mining operations. Last week, 90 per cent of workers at the mine rejected the company’s offer of a new contract in a dispute that began last July.

Copper mining at Sudbury re-commence last September while the nickel smelter resumed production in January, processing nickel stockpiles using employees from other parts of the company. Nickel mining began in February using workers from an outside contractor.

In February, the company said it planned to resume nickel mining at its Coleman and Creighton mines in Sudbury using workers from an outside contractor.

Mined nickel will be smelted and shipped to the company's refinery in Wales, which will be running at full capacity by April, producing 3,600 tonnes per month of nickel.