Xstrata Nickel has announced that its Raglan operation in Northern Quebec has been awarded the 2008 F.J. O’Connell trophy for excellence in safety for the tenth time in the last eleven years. The F.J. O’Connell award is presented each year by the Mining Association of Quebec to the Quebec mine that has recorded the most improvements in mine safety and accident prevention. Xstrata Nickel Raglan Mine also received the 2008 John T. Ryan trophy (Eastern region). The John T. Ryan trophies are awarded by Mine Safety Appliances Canada Ltd as a memorial to the founder of the company and given to the mines that experience the lowest accident frequencies during the previous year in all of Canada. Raglan’s total recordable injury frequency rate improved by 21% in 2008 over the previous year. The Raglan mining camp is producing 1.3 million tonnes of ore annually. Through the course of the current year, the concentrator will reach the 600 million pound mark of nickel produced since the operation began in 1997.