Vale has announced that they will soon restart their Sudbury, Ontario, smelter for the first time since a strike at the operation began during the summer. The smelter, part of the assets acquired when Vale bought Canada’s Inco in 2006, will likely churn into action by the end of January 2010, operating one of its two furnaces and producing a nickel matte product. Vale will use company workers from outside the striking bargaining unit — which is represented by the United Steelworkers union — as well as some personnel from outside contractors. More than 3000 workers at Sudbury and at Vale’s smaller Port Colborne operation went on strike in mid-July 2009. The company restarted two mines and a mill in October using non-striking workers, and will used nickel ore from those mines, along with stockpiled concentrate, to feed the smelter.