Strike ends at Voisey’s Bay

Some 120 members of the United Steelworkers at the Voisey’s Bay nickel operations in Labrador have ratified an agreement struck with Inco (N-T, N-N) on Sept. 26, 2006, immediately ending their strike, which began on July 28 at the Voisey’s Bay mine.

Inco says the mine will resume production at full capacity in a couple of weeks. The striking workers represented only a quarter of the mine’s 420-strong workforce.

Voisey’s Bay began producing in September 2005, and churned out some 23 million lbs. nickel-in-concentrate and 10 million lbs. copper-in-concentrate during the balance of the year. The mine had been expected to produce around 120 million pounds of low-cost, high-grade nickel concentrates in 2006.

The mine ships concentrate on a seasonal basis to Inco’s Sudbury and Thompson smelters.

Denver-based International Royalty Corp. (IRC-T) holds an effective 2.7% net smelter return royalty on the Voisey’s Bay project.