Sudbury home to one of the world’s premier mining companies

From the day in 1883 when a railway worker spotted strong copper mineralization on the rim of the Sudbury Basin, Sudbury, Ont., has evolved through a decades-long era of total dependence on mining to today’s thriving northern metropolis. It offers major educational benefits and world-class cultural and scientific attraction. Where some 50 years ago more than half the city’s workforce was employed in mining, now less than a fifth of the workforce derives its livelihood from the industry. Synonymous with the evolution of Sudbury itself has been the development of the Ontario Division of Inco Ltd., still the largest single employer in the city with more than 8,000 employees. The discovery and development of Sudbury ores in the Sudbury Basin — one of the most significant nickel-producing areas in the world — has been ranked by some in national importance with the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway from coast to coast. Inco has played the dominant role in this ore development process since a predecessor company, the Canadian Copper Co., was formed in 1886. Only early in the 1900s did the emerging knowledge of nickel’s value for its strength, toughness and corrosion resistance lead to development of that mineral’s orebodies.

Inco currently has 11 operating mines in Ontario, 10 in the Sudbury district and the Shebandowan mine near Thunder Bay, Ont. Other principal Ontario division facilities include the Clarabelle and Copper Cliff mills, the Copper Cliff smelter, Copper Cliff nickel refinery, a copper refinery and a refining operation at Port Colborne, Ont.

Mining methods at Inco were revolutionized beginning in the late 1970s with the development at the Levack mine of the bulk-mining technique known as vertical retreat. This technique, considered safer and more cost-efficient than conventional methods, now dominates the division’s ore production.

It allows the blasting of panels of ore nearly 100 metres high, each panel containing thousands of tons of ore. From this technique development has followed the growth of new, state-of-the-art mining equipment and new, economical mining concepts and technology, typical of which are several Inco-developed drills. These drills, all ideal for vertical retreat mining, replace labor- intensive operations and improve safety.

Inco’s strategy to produce greater efficiency through technological change is complemented by the company’s continuing investment in new mines with higher ore grades. The $51.5-million Lower Coleman mine and the adjacent $180-million McCreedy East mine are Inco’s largest known, undeveloped nickel- copper deposits in the Sudbury Basin. Together with large, undeveloped reserve at the Creighton and Garson mines, they represent the future for Inco in Ontario and will furnish more than 25 years of production.

These two new mines will utilize the most modern technology and will contribute significantly to improvements in safety and productivity. Bulk-mining techniques will predominate. Lower Coleman, which will join Crean Hill as an all-electric mine, is scheduled to be in production in 1991. McCreedy East will be the division’s most productive mine because of the size and high quality of its orebody and its use of advanced mining techniques ranging from electrification and computerization to sophisticated ore-handling and transportation equipment. Plans call for this mine to come on stream in 1993.

Inco is one of the world’s premier mining and metals companies and the Ontario division is considered by the company to be the flagship of the company’s primary metals fleet. Inco’s slogan “Stronger for our experience” would seem to rely heavily for its continued use and success not only on the company’s decades of mining and processing background but also on the success of a “total quality improvement” philosophy adopted throughout the company and designed to continue improvements in quality in all phases of its operations.