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The company is exploring for nickel deposits on its Langmuir property near Timmins, Ontario; for nickel-gold-copper on its Cleaver and Douglas properties; and for molybdenum and rare earth elements at recently acquired Desrosiers property.

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Strike update

posted on Nov 24, 2009 07:25PM

If the FNX boss felt that the price of nickel was "skewed" by the local strikes and it's impact on nickel levels, what will this do for the year?

http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2191008

Strike could last a year: market analyst

Posted By Harold Carmichael/The Sudbury Star

Posted 11 mins ago

If Vale Inco and the Steelworkers don't sit down soon and hammer out a deal, strikes that began in the summer could last as long as a year, a market analyst warned Tuesday.

Kerry Smith, a mining analyst with Haywood Securities in Toronto, made the comment amid reports that nickel prices and demand are likely to remain soft.

"You are getting to the point where things are getting pretty entrenched," Smith said Tuesday. "I thought it would come to an end by mid-October, mid-November.

"Now, I'm thinking it's going to be a year. If they don't get back to the table immediately, I think this could last a long time."

More than 3,000 Steelworkers in Greater Sudbury and Port Colborne hit the picket lines July 13 in a contract dispute over changes Vale Inco wants to make to pensions, bonuses and job security. Steelworkers in Voisey's Bay, NL, struck Aug. 1.

Smith said that when the former Inco Limited owned the nickel operations in Sudbury, a strike really cut into the company's bottom line due to dependency on copper and nickel sales. That's not the case now with Brazilian-based Vale, which is more into other metals, such as iron ore, he said.

"They really don't need cash for nickel as badly as Inco may have required."

Smith doesn't see world nickel demand increasing in 2010, but prices could go up due to other factors.

"I think the forecasted demand is not as good as people think," Smith said. "I think there will be oversupply marginally next year, but the U.S. dollar could continue to go lower. If the dollar goes lower, the nickel price goes up."