1. Globe and Mail reports Vale Inco will be cutting output at Sudbury.
2. Globally, the situation is significant:
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world’s biggest iron-ore producer, fired 1,300 employees and will send 5,500 more on paid leave because of the “serious crisis” in the metals and mining industry.
An additional 1,200 employees are being retrained for new jobs, a press official for the Rio de Janeiro-based company said today in a telephone interview. Before the cuts, Vale had 62,000 employees worldwide, said the official, who declined to give her name.
3. Nickel prices have dropped astronomically from $22 a pound (May 2007) to less than $5 currently. It's hard to imagine that this would not have a serious adverse effect on provincial government revenues both in the current fiscal year and the coming one.
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