Sept08

Sudbury, North Bay, Timmins cluster a mining powerhouse M ining suppliers serving the red hot mining industry in Northern Ontario can be excused for thinking they’re on a different planet. While the evening news and the headlines in the financial press... More

Sudbury, North Bay, Timmins cluster a mining powerhouse M ining suppliers serving the red hot mining industry in Northern Ontario can be excused for thinking they’re on a different planet. While the evening news and the headlines in the financial press bemoan the fallout from the sub-prime mortgage mess, recordhigh fuel prices and rising unemployment, cities such as Sudbury, Timmins and North Bay are bursting at the seams. New headframes are popping up across the region, exploration spending is at an all-time high, apartment vacancy rates are close to nil and the newspapers are full of help wanted ads. In Sudbury, the heart of the region’s mining industry, the three major players – Vale Inco, Xstrata and FNX Mining - will spend more than $1 billion this year on new mine development projects. Vale Inco alone will spend $600 million, including $400 million developing Totten Mine, the company’s first new mine in Sudbury in more than 35 years. And that’s just a taste of what’s to come Less