Falconbridge Nickel Mines Limited, and from 1982 onwards Falconbridge Limited, was a Canadian mining company that existed from 1928 to 2007. It had operations in 18 countries, and was involved in the exploration, mining, processing, and marketing of metal and mineral products, including
nickel
Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...
,
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
,
cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...
, and
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...
. It was listed on the
TSX (under the symbol FAL.LV) and
NYSE
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
(FAL), and had revenue of US$6.9 billion in 2005. In August 2006, it was absorbed by Swiss-based mining company
Xstrata
Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter o ...
, which had formerly been a major shareholder. On 28 October 2007, Falconbridge Limited changed its name to the Xstrata Canada Corporation.
Falconbridge, named after the town Falconbridge, which in turn was named for a prominent "son", one Sir
William Glenholme Falconbridge, High Court Judge whose father John Kennedy Falconbridge, had migrated to Ontario from Lisburn Ireland.
Falconbridge is important to the economic and commercial development of the
northern region of Ontario Canada, particularly the communities in and around
Sudbury.
History
In 1928, an experienced prospector and businessman
Thayer Lindsley purchased mining claims containing rich deposits of
nickel-copper ore in the area northeast of Sudbury. These claims had been established as early as 1901, when
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
made the original discovery of the Falconbridge ore body, but remained undeveloped until Lindsley's purchase. Soon thereafter, planning and construction of a company town began, to house and service workers for the future mines. The community, complete with utilities and a medical centre, was named
Falconbridge Falconbridge may refer to:
*Falconbridge Ltd., a Canadian mining company
*Falconbridge, Middlesex County, Ontario
*Falconbridge, Greater Sudbury, Ontario
People with the surname
*Lord Falconbridge, an alternative title for barons, viscounts, and e ...
after the geographic township in which it was located. Likewise, the company became known as Falconbridge Nickel Mines Limited.
Just one year later in 1929, the new company acquired the
Kristiansand Nikkelraffineringsverk A/S refinery in
Kristiansand
Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...
, Norway. This expanded its operations, but more importantly the company also gained the rights to the
Hybinette nickel refining process.
The operations at the Falconbridge site expanded in the early 1930s. By 1930 ore from an underground mine was being extracted at 250 tonnes per day, and a nearby smelter was in operation to process the material. In 1932, a mill and
sintering facility began operation.
Through the 1950s and 1960s, significant expansion of the
Sudbury Basin
The Sudbury Basin (), also known as Sudbury Structure or the Sudbury Nickel Irruptive, is a major geology, geological structure in Ontario, Canada. It is among the oldest- and largest-known List of impact structures on Earth, impact structures ...
operations took place, including some twelve new mines. All recovered nickel, copper, and smaller amounts of other materials including
platinides. Meanwhile, the Nikkelverk operation began recovering cobalt alongside previous extractions in 1952, using a new refining process. In 1962, Falconbridge acquired
Ventures Limited, including its numerous international operations and geological exploration infrastructure, allowing further expansion and growth outside of Canada.
In 1971 the Falconbridge Dominicana (Falcondo) mine and process plant commenced operation in
Bonao, Dominican Republic. The site employed a novel reduction and smelting technique superior to the kiln process. To aid in community development, the Falcondo Foundation was established in 1989 and has been a pioneer in Natural Resource Corporate Social Responsibility.
In 1977, Falconbridge patented the
chlorine leach nickel refining process that had been developed in-house.
The late 1970s saw the company play a role, alongside
Inco, in the environmental reclamation efforts undertaken in the
Sudbury region. As part of this, a new, more efficient smelter was opened, as well as a facility for the production of
sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...
. This commercially saleable chemical had been a source of significant ecological damage when it was produced in the atmosphere by the reaction of
sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...
emissions. The new acid plant allowed this effect to be greatly reduced by catalyzing the reaction before emission, while producing additional revenue from the sale of the acid.
By 1984, the commercial reserves at the original Falconbridge Mine had been exhausted. Production continued at several other sites in the Sudbury area. The company expanded within northern Ontario by acquiring the
Kidd Mine and
Kidd Metallurgical Site (Met Site) in
Timmins
Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 at the 2021 Canadian census and an estimated population of ...
, Ontario. Expansion continued in the 1990s, with a new mine in Sudbury, and one at
Raglan in northern Quebec, though Falconbridge lost the bidding war with Inco for the deposit at
Voisey's Bay.
The new century saw more acquisitions, including the Montcalm mine in Timmins, the Kabanga project in
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
, and the
Lomas Bayas mine in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
.
Noranda proposed a merger to Falconbridge in March 2005.
In June 2005 Falconbridge merged with
Noranda, previously the 58.4% owner, continuing under the name Falconbridge Limited. Noranda brought significant variety to the business, including operations in
aluminum mining and
recycling
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...
of electronic hardware.
In August 2005
Brascan Limited sold its 20% share in Falconbridge to
Xstrata
Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter o ...
.
Operations as of 2006
At the time of the
Xstrata
Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter o ...
takeover, Falconbridge had major operations in and around the
Sudbury Basin
The Sudbury Basin (), also known as Sudbury Structure or the Sudbury Nickel Irruptive, is a major geology, geological structure in Ontario, Canada. It is among the oldest- and largest-known List of impact structures on Earth, impact structures ...
, including the
Craig,
Fraser Fraser may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands
Australia
* Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen
* Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ...
, and
Thayer Lindsley underground copper/nickel mines, as well as a mill (Strathcona), nickel
smelter
Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron, copper, silver, tin, lead and zin ...
,
sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...
plant, and a technology centre. In 2005, Falconbridge had started the Deposit Definition phase of the
Nickel Rim South mine near the
Sudbury Airport.
Metal refining was no longer carried out in
Sudbury by Falconbridge, but rather at its Falconbridge
Nikkelverk operation in
Kristiansand
Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...
.
Another Canadian operation was the
Kidd Mine and
Kidd Metallurgical Site in
Timmins
Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 at the 2021 Canadian census and an estimated population of ...
, Ontario which includes an underground
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
/zinc mine, concentrator, copper smelter and copper
refinery,
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...
plant,
indium
Indium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol In and atomic number 49. It is a silvery-white post-transition metal and one of the softest elements. Chemically, indium is similar to gallium and thallium, and its properties are la ...
plant,
cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...
plant, and
sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...
plants. Falconbridge also operated the
Montcalm underground nickel mine west of Timmins. Other sites were located in
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, Ontario (
Rouyn-Noranda
Rouyn-Noranda (; Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population 42,313) is a city on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada.
The city of Rouyn-Noranda is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipalit ...
:
Horne copper smelter,
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
: CCR copper refinery,
Salaberry-de-Valleyfield: CEZ zinc refinery,
Nunavik
Nunavik (; ; ) is an area in Canada which comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, part of the Nord-du-Québec region and nearly coterminous with Kativik. Covering a land area of north of the 55th parallel, it is the homelan ...
:
Raglan underground nickel/copper mine and mill) and
Bathurst, New Brunswick (Brunswick underground zinc/lead mine, lead smelter and lead refinery, and silver refinery).
Copper and precious metal recycling facilities were at
Brampton
Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...
, Ontario;
East Providence, Rhode Island;
La Vergne, Tennessee;
Roseville, California;
San Jose, California; and
Penang
Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...
, Malaysia.
Falconbridge Ltd. also operated an aluminium smelter in
New Madrid, Missouri and an alumina refinery in
Gramercy, Louisiana. The aluminum produced from these mills was prepared in one of four
rolling mills located in
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...
, Tennessee (2 mills);
Salisbury
Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
, North Carolina (1 mill); and
Newport, Arkansas (1 mill).
Central American and Caribbean projects included the St. Ann
bauxite
Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...
mine in
Discovery Bay, Jamaica and the
Falcondo nickel surface mine and processing plant in
Bonao, Dominican Republic.
South American properties were mainly
copper deposits such as the
Antamina copper/zinc open-pit mine in northern
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, the
Collahuasi copper/
molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...
open-pit mine (including mill,
liquid–liquid extraction
Liquid–liquid extraction, also known as solvent extraction and partitioning, is a method to separate compounds or metal complexes, based on their relative solubility, solubilities in two different Miscibility, immiscible liquids, usually wate ...
plant, and electrowinning plant) in northern
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, the
Lomas Bayas open-pit copper mine (including liquid–liquid extraction plant and electrowinning plant), and the
Altonorte copper smelter also in northern Chile.
Falconbridge also owned a
Boeing 737-200 (registration C-FFAL). The aircraft is based in Toronto at
Pearson International Airport. The aircraft was repainted with Xstrata livery following the takeover, and still operates.
Merger efforts and acquisition
In 1996, as part of a strategic initiative - growth study, internally commissioned during the struggle between INCO and Falconbridge over acquiring
Voisey's Bay, a plan and proposal came forth for Falconbridge to abandon its attempt to acquire the property in Labrador and redirect its efforts and financial capacity at acquiring INCO itself. The strategic plan was presented to and declined by Falconbridge majority owners at the time, Noranda (and their majority owner - Brascan).
On 11 October 2005, Inco announced a proposal to acquire Falconbridge for $12 billion. This came at a time of especially high prices for base metals, including nickel. Part of the motivation for the merger was to avoid a takeover of either company by cash-flushed foreign competitors. Additionally, significant synergies would have been realized in the Sudbury operations in Project Pentlandite, with both companies performing the same kind of extraction and smelting work on the same kind of ore.
The two companies were set upon by hostile takeover bids from rival firms. Swiss
Xstrata
Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter o ...
, already 19.9% owner of Falconbridge through its purchase of Brascan's share,
[ bid for a complete acquisition, while Teck Cominco of ]Vancouver
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
set its sights on Inco.[
On 13 May 2006, Inco announced that it increased its offer to acquire Falconbridge by $5.00 CAD per share, bringing the bid to $61.04 CAD per share (based on 23 June 2006 Inco/Phelps Dodge share price).][
On 26 June 2006, Phelps Dodge made a bid for the proposed combined Inco/Falconbridge company, valued at around US$40 billion. This would have formed the Phelps Dodge Inco Corp., valued at US$56 billion, creating the fifth largest mining company, largest nickel producer, and the second largest copper producer in the world with corporate and copper division headquarters located in Phoenix, Arizona and nickel division headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The deadline for the Inco offer was 13 July 2006.][
On 18 May 2006, ]Xstrata
Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter o ...
had announced a proposal to acquire Falconbridge for $52.50 CAD per share. This was a cash offer, unlike the Inco offer of a combination of cash and shares. On 12 July 2006, Xstrata
Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter o ...
announced that it increased its offer to acquire Falconbridge to $59.00 CAD per share (an approximate total value of $22.5 billion CAD). This counter-offer was 9.6% higher than Inco's bid. The deadline for Xstrata's bid to be complete was 21 July 2006. Xstrata acquired and absorbed Falconbridge in late August 2006, leaving Inco open to bids by Phelps Dodge and the Brazilian company CVRD.[ Falconbridge became Xstrata Nickel, which continued to be based in Toronto.
In August 2007 the Koniambo mine project was headed by Falconbridge Limited. CEO Aaron Regent was in talks with China Minmetals and China Development Bank about them investing in the form of debt rather than equity.]
On 2 May 2013 Glencore
Glencore plc is an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas headquarters are in London, London, England as well a ...
completed the merger with Xstrata.
Social impact in Sudbury
Falconbridge lent its name to a company town northeast of Sudbury which grew to be a community in its own right. The town of Falconbridge Falconbridge may refer to:
*Falconbridge Ltd., a Canadian mining company
*Falconbridge, Middlesex County, Ontario
*Falconbridge, Greater Sudbury, Ontario
People with the surname
*Lord Falconbridge, an alternative title for barons, viscounts, and e ...
was incorporated by the provincial government in 1957. It was organized along with several other communities into the Town of Nickel Centre and Regional Municipality of Sudbury in 1973; the regional municipality was in turn amalgamated into today's city of Greater Sudbury in 2001.
Some Falconbridge workers also lived in the nearby community of Happy Valley, which was abandoned in the 1960s due to pollution from the Falconbridge smelter.
"Falco", as it was often called by Sudbury residents, remained for decades the second-largest employer in the Sudbury area, exceeded only by rival mining giant Inco. The economic fortune of the city was tied to those of the mining companies, as a strike at either company had a major effect on the livelihood of thousands of workers. The effect diminished as economic diversification progressed in the 1980s and 1990s.
Citizens, particularly workers and their families, came to develop an attachment to what were seen as local companies with significant size and influence in the mining industry
Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a la ...
. In particular, a certain degree of rivalry between workers at the two mining giants, who were members of rival labour unions, developed. In the 1950s and early 1960s, factional wars between the competing unions sometimes led to riots in the streets of Sudbury.
A proposal to merge Inco and Falconbridge in 2006 was headed with the slogan "Two proud histories, one great future",Council agendas
in reference to the strong identities which workers and the community had attached to the companies.
A major street in Sudbury is named Falconbridge Road, after the company and community. In 2007, Xstrata donated Falconbridge's historic Edison Building, its onetime head office, to the city of Greater Sudbury to serve as the new home of the city archives.
References
Further reading
* Provides extensive coverage of the history of Falconbridge's now-defunct industrial railway operations.
* Deverill, John. '' Falconbridge: Portrait of a Canadian Mining Multinational''. James Lorimer & Company, 1975.
External links
Official site
now moved t
Xstrata archive
Xstrata Nickel website
Xstrata Falconbridge acquisition documents
{{Authority control
Defunct mining companies of Canada
History of Greater Sudbury
Economy of Greater Sudbury
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1928
Xstrata
Nickel mining companies
Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 2006
Metal companies of Canada
1928 establishments in Ontario
2006 disestablishments in Ontario
Canadian companies established in 1928
Glencore
Metallurgical industry of Canada