TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Brazilian-owned Vale Inco expects to restart some operations at its Sudbury, Ontario, mill this week, with no end in sight to an 11-week strike by members of the United Steelworkers union employed by the company.

“We are ready to resume partial production at our operations in Sudbury,” spokesperson Cory McPhee said on Wednesday.

“Commissioning work at the Clarabelle mill is close to completion, with the mill expected to operate for an initial 48-hour cycle beginning Thursday.”

The company is continuing with preparatory work at the Coleman mine 153 orebody and Garson ramp, ahead of production restarting.

Operations should be under way at both locations beginning next week, McPhee said.

“Although we would prefer to be operating normally, the resumption of partial production is a matter of doing what’s best for the business.

“It enables us to provide meaningful employment for the 1 200 employees who are not on strike, it provides an economic boost to the Sudbury community and it helps meet the needs of our customers who rely on us,” he said.

More than 3 000 members of the USW union went on strike on July 13, after rejecting Vale Inco's three-year contract offer.

In August, Vale Inco announced it planned to restart partial production with nonstriking workers.

The company has been conducting training since then, and last week told FNX Mining, with which it has a long-term processing agreement, that it should start ore deliveries to the Clarabelle mill.

McPhee said a week ago that the company was moving ore inventoried at its Stobie mine to the Clarabelle mine, as it tested the mill circuit and trained staff for a resumption of partial production.

The firm has said it will target parts of the orebody with high grades of copper and platinum-group metals, and plans to produce a copper concentrate.

COURT INJUNCTION

Union leaders have spoken out strongly against the plan to resume production, accusing Vale of jeopardising the safety of nonstriking workers.

Now, as the strike drags on, and with production about to restart, frustrations are growing.

Last week, the company had to ask a court to enforce the injuction governing strike protocol, after picketers blocked trucks carrying ore from leaving and entering operations for hours, while the injunction allowed only for a 12 to 15-minute delay across picket lines.

Three striking workers have also been fired after threatening violence on the picket lines, local press reported.

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

The company's Port Colborne operations, in Ontario, and Voisey's Bay mine, in Newfoundland and Labrador, are also halted because of strikes.

Nickel traded above $22/lb in 2007, but fell sharply, after slowing global economic activity dampened demand for the metal, which is used to make stainless steel.

Spot nickel was trading at just below $8/lb on Wednesday.

Like other producers, Vale Inco has cut output and spending around the world this year, and announced in March that 900 jobs would be cut, including 423 in Canada.

The company also closed all its Sudbury operations for eight weeks in June, in response to weak demand. The strike was called before production started up again.

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