let us assume whole DE 50 million tonne with 1% NI, achieve 500,000 ton..about 10 years of sudbury production...

Nickel

Bill McCutcheon

The author is with the Minerals and Metals Sector, Natural Resources Canada.
Telephone: (613) 992-5480
E-mail: bmccutch@nrcan.gc.ca

In 2001, Canadian production of nickel in concentrates was 194 000 t and primary nickel use was about 14 300 t. The strike at Falconbridge Ltd.’s facilities in Sudbury, which began in August 2000, was settled in February 2001. Falconbridge’s production of nickel in concentrates totalled just under 60 000 t, up 8% from 2000. During 2001, mill throughput at the Raglan mine in Quebec increased to 3000 t/d, up 25%. Falconbridge completed the purchase of the Montcalm property near Timmins, Ontario; the property has the potential to produce 8000 t/y of nickel in concentrates from 5 Mt of ore. In 2002, Falconbridge plans to produce 27 000 t of nickel from Sudbury and
26 000 t of nickel from Raglan.

Inco Ltd.?s production of finished nickel in 2001 was 95 000 t from the Sudbury, Ontario, operations and 49 000 t from the Thompson, Manitoba, operations. Part of this output was sourced from nickel concentrates imported from Australia. During the year, Inco closed two mines in the Sudbury area.