First Nickel Inc. FNKLF

RE: RE: RE: Negotiations

[mcugly]

First Nickel, union meet
MINING
Posted By CAROL MULLIGAN THE SUDBURY STAR
Posted 8 hours ago


Bargaining teams for First Nickel Inc. and Mine Mill Local 598/CAW are negotiating to settle a new collective agreement for about 140 production and maintenance workers -- even though there may currently be no jobs for them at the junior miner.

Three days of bargaining started Wednesday to reach a new agreement for production and maintenance workers who have been without a contract since December 2009. But they were laid off October 2008 because of low metal prices.


Bill Anderson, president and chief executive officer of First Nickel, said his company and CAW have been negotiating off and on since the collective agreement expired.

The company is looking to settle a collective agreement so when it does resume operation at Lockerby Mine, both sides will be ready to go.

First Nickel is in discussions with banks to get about $40 million for what it calls the Lockerby Depth project.

"We still don't have that debt secured," Anderson told The Sudbury Star on Wednesday.

Anderson said he is still confident First Nickel will secure the funding to begin the development work on the infrastructure for the project. That work will be done by contractors and will take about one year.

Lockerby Mine is located southwest of Sudbury.

First Nickel acquired Lockerby Mine in June 2005 and began commercial production in 2006, extracting an additional 364,000 tonnes to October 2008 when the mine was placed on care and maintenance.

Anderson said First Nickel is looking to get five or six years of production out of the mine.

Richard Paquin, president of Mine Mill Local 598/CAW, said the union wants to get a contract.

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"If we do, it means we have about 140 workers back to work and that's good for everybody," said Paquin.

Article ID# 2680228
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