TORONTO (miningweekly.com) - Brazilian-owned Vale Inco and union members at its Sudbury, Ontario, operations headed to court on Tuesday, after picketing workers blocked trucks carrying ore and other vehicles from entering and leaving some of the company's operations.

Around 3 100 members of the United Steelworkers (USW) union downed tools on July 13 after rejecting Vale Inco's three-year contract offer.

There are still no talks planned between the parties, and Vale Inco announced last month it plans to restart some production in Sudbury using nonstriking workers.

However, picketing USW members have been preventing contractor trucks from carrying ore from the company's Stobie mine to its Clarabelle mill.

Vale says this violates a court injunction that lays out the protocol for the strike, but the union argues that the protocol was drawn up before Vale revealed its plans to restart production, and does not apply to the ore trucks.

"We are seeking the enforcement of the injunction that is in place," Vale Inco spokesperson Cory McPhee said on Tuesday.

"We've had truck traffic blocked into our site, and the injunction was put in place to allow us access and egress from the site.

"So we certainly want that injunction and everything that it entails to be upheld."

Employees' personal vehicles had also been blocked, he said.

McPhee clarified that the contractor trucks do not represent replacements to the striking workers.

"These are contractors who move our ore at all times, whether we are in normal operations or not."

Following scheduled maintenance in May this year, Vale Inco implemented an eight-week shutdown at its Sudbury mining and processing operations, starting June 1, in response to weak demand and prices for the metal, which is used to make stainless steel.

Workers subsequently voted to strike before operations were scheduled to resume.

McPhee also said that the company does not have plans to reopen its Copper Cliff Smelter, despite local media reports that this could be an option.

"Our operational plans that we've announced as far as restarting partial production do not include the smelter," he asserted.

However, the company has not ruled anything out in the longer term.

It has also not said when it expects to restart the operations with the nonstriking workers, who are currently undergoing training, although McPhee said on August 26 it could be a matter of weeks.

Vale, the world's biggest iron-ore producer, bought Canadian nickel-miner Inco in 2007.

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.