Nickel

BHP Billiton has signed an agreement to sell the Ravensthorpe Nickel Operation to First Quantum Minerals Australia Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian-based First Quantum Minerals Ltd, for USD 340 million.

Vale SA workers are set to extend a strike at a nickel mine in Canada after a five-month walkout that took about 10% of world supplies off the market and pushed up prices.

URSA Major Minerals Inc. is planning to resume mining operations at the Shakespeare Nickel Copper Mine located 70km west of Sudbury, Ontario.

Diamondex Resources Ltd has reported a settlement of the Action brought in the Supreme Court of British Columbia by Canada Nickel Corp. against Diamondex, its wholly owned subsidiary, Nickel Bay Resources Inc. and Randy C Turner, President and CEO of Diamondex.

Striking Vale Inco miners in Sudbury, Ontario, have new restrictions on their picket lines.

Apella Resources Inc. has formed a wholly owned subsidiary Power Vanadium Corp. which will be positioned as a pure vanadium iron titanium entity to hold and operate Apella's Iron T, Lac Dore and Lac Dore North interests, all located in Quebec, Canada. Power will provide Apella with a vehicle within which Apella can finance, operate, and develop its iron vanadium titanium projects without significant affect on the other gold, copper and nickel assets within Apella.

Canadian-based copper producer First Quantum Minerals is believed to be considering a bid for BHP Billiton’s mothballed Ravensthorpe nickel laterite mine.

Anglo American plc is going to restructure its businesses units to create a more streamlined management structure and further focus the Group on its core mining portfolio.

Mining equipment manufacturer, Sandvik, is to close its manufacturing plant in Burlington, Ontario, Canada and transfer production to facilities in China, Finland and Australia. Sandvik Mining and Construction, a manufacturer of drilling and underground loading and haulage equipment for the global mining sector as well as other mining equipment, says its decision to close the plant follows a thorough assessment of the operation's future financial robustness, an alignment of the global manufacturing capacity and of addressing a number of projects critical to its long-run profitability.

International Royalty Corp. and minority partner Altius have launched a court challenge against mining giant Vale Inco over alleged underpayment of royalties on the sale of nickel concentrates from the Voisey's Bay mine in northern Labrador, Canada.