The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District converts ground-up food waste into electricity. Residents in China’s northern provinces heat their homes without coal-burning boilers. A Colorado company converts plant material like wood and grass into synthesis gas. Data centers can reduce energy consumption and save money by following a series of recommendations.
These scenarios use technology from Ferguson-based Emerson — and, the company says, the solutions have "never been done before."
That’s the thrust of Emerson’s new global ads, which launch Monday and run through May. The ads in television, print, radio and airport boards highlight four instances where Emerson’s products were used in innovative ways.
The cost of the ads is $10 no faxing 1 hour payday loans.6 million, the company said. DDB Chicago created the campaign.
Emerson, one of the region’s largest public companies, makes a range of products, including industrial process controls, cooling equipment, network power products, appliances and tools.
"Although this campaign arrives during a difficult economic period, a recession is an opportune time for companies like ours to more tightly partner with customers to better help them prepare for the turnaround," Chief Marketing Officer Kathy Button Bell said in a statement.
atablac@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8140
WASHINGTON–U.S. President Barack Obama is sending Congress a budget Thursday that projects the government's deficit for this year will soar to US$1.75 trillion, reflecting efforts to escape a deep recession and a severe financial crisis.
A senior administration official told The Associated Press that Obama's $3 trillion-plus spending blueprint also asks Congress to raise taxes on the wealthy in 2011 and cut Medicare costs to provide health care for the uninsured.
Obama's first budget also holds out the possibility of spending $250 billion more for additional financial industry rescue efforts on top of the $700 billion that Congress has already authorized, according to this official, who spoke on condition of anonymity before the formal release of the budget.
The official said the administration felt it would be prudent to ask for additional resources to deal with the financial crisis, the most severe to hit the United States in seven decades.
He called the request a "placeholder" in advance of a determination by the Treasury Department of what extra resources will actually be needed.
The spending blueprint Obama is sending Congress is a 140-page outline, with complete details scheduled to come in mid- to late April.
Obama wants Congress to extend the $400 annual tax cut due to start showing up in workers' paycheques in April, and it extends the tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 for couples earning less than $250,000 per year. Those tax cuts were due to expire at the end of 2010.
To pay for the middle-class tax relief and the effort to increase health coverage, Obama's budget makes significant cuts on the rate of growth in other areas of health care and seeks to trim a variety of other government programs, including subsidies earned by farmers with revenue of more than $500,000 a year fast payday loan no faxing.
The budget would also seek savings in military weapons purchases. It would raise taxes on wealthy hedge fund managers and corporations, eliminating tax incentives U.S. companies now have to move jobs overseas, something Obama repeatedly mentioned during his presidential campaign.
Even with all the savings, the cost of the $787 billion economic stimulus bill will push the deficit for this year to $1.75 trillion, a level – as a percentage of the economy – not seen since the Second World War.
The deficit is expected to remain around $1 trillion for the next two years before starting to decline to $533 billion in 2013, according to budget projections.
The $1.75 trillion deficit projected for this year would represent 12.3 per cent of the gross domestic product, double the previous post-war record of 6 per cent in 1983 and the highest level since the deficit totalled 21.5 per cent of GDP in 1945, at the end of the Second World War.
At $533 billion, the deficit in 2013 will be about 3 per cent of the size of the economy, a level that administration officials said would be manageable.
JEFFERSON CITY — The new buzzword in the debate over a $6 billion Missouri nuclear plant is "certainty."
AmerenUE says it wants to give certainty to its investors as it tries to change Missouri law to help it build a second reactor in Callaway County.
Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, wants certainty, too. But Schaefer is more concerned about making sure ratepayers don’t get stuck paying hundreds of millions of dollars in higher rates for a plant that doesn’t get built.
Now, Schaefer and the St. Louis-based utility are talking about compromises that might give hope to a bill that would allow AmerenUE to charge consumers higher rates to help pay for the plant before it actually opens for business.
The plan seemed dead on arrival after its first hearing in the Senate when Schaefer — whose district stands to benefit more than most from the high-paying jobs — was among the most vocal critics of what he called a poorly written bill.
Missouri law currently bans what is called "construction work in progress," or CWIP, which would allow utility companies to raise rates on consumers while a new plant is being built, rather than having to wait until the plant is producing electricity.
AmerenUE wants to reverse that law, but rather than submit a bill that would do that, it is behind bills in both the Senate and the House that would substantially change the state’s utility regulation process and take power from consumers and the Public Service Commission.
Schaefer said that after meeting with AmerenUE CEO Tom Voss, his biggest concern was that Voss told him that even with a change in law, there was only about a 25 percent chance the nuclear plant in Callaway would ever get built.
"There is a 100 percent chance of a rate increase," Schaefer said, "Yet at the same time, Ameren will say there is only a 25 percent chance they’ll build the plant if they get their bill."
With that in mind, Schaefer and other senators have been working with AmerenUE officials to put protections in the law so that if the plant is not built — or if AmerenUE gets the highly valuable permit to build the plant but decides to sell it — the investment made by ratepayers is returned to them need a personal loan with bad credit.
"We’re trying to find common ground," said Schaefer, who added that he believed AmerenUE officials were amenable to making changes.
AmerenUE Vice President Richard Mark said Tuesday that he had been working with a variety of lawmakers, including Schaefer; Sen. Frank Barnitz, D-Lake Spring; and the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City, to improve the bill.
Mark said that the environment had been cooperative and that he hoped a new bill with changes to protect consumers would be submitted next week.
In the House, bill sponsor Ed Emery, R-Lamar, said he, too, was making changes to appeal to the consumer groups who had testified against the bill. One of the loudest criticisms is that the bill would force the Public Service Commission to decide on the "prudency" of a new nuclear plant in three months.
Office of Public Counsel Lewis Mills had testified that such a window was too short for the complicated regulatory process to work. Emery said AmerenUE officials had agreed to change the language to six months.
That might not be long enough, said Robert Clayton, chairman of the Public Service Commission, in a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
Clayton said he understood why AmerenUE was seeking more control over the regulatory process — to satisfy the investors who would put up the billions of dollars needed to finance the nuclear plant. But Clayton said that before the Legislature could determine whether those changes were necessary, it first needed to hear from Wall Street investors about specifically what Ameren needed to do to get financing for the nuclear plant.
"That’s what makes it so difficult to say with absolute certainty whether this bill is needed," Clayton said.
The CWIP bills have both been heard by committees; no votes have yet been taken on them.
(The bills are SB228 and HB 554)
tmessenger@post-dispatch.com | 573-635-6178
OTTAWA – The federal government needs to get a better idea from Chrysler Canada about the implications for this country of the company’s financial restructuring plan, says Industry Minister Tony Clement.
In an interview yesterday on CTV’s Question Period, Clement said he’s especially interested in finding out what product lines Chrysler has in mind for its plants in Windsor and Brampton.
Chrysler provided only a sketchy outline of its latest proposals last Friday, sending a brief covering letter to the federal and Ontario governments that added little to plans previously submitted to the new administration of Barack Obama in the United States.
Chrysler said it didn’t have to go into great detail about developments north of the border because its American and Canadian operations are so highly integrated.
But the paucity of new information disappointed some industry analysts, and Clement made it clear he wasn’t satisfied.
"We do have an integrated market," he acknowledged.
"But at the same time, if we’re talking about Canadian taxpayer dollars, we do want to have some specifics about what exactly is going to be going on in Canada guaranteed fast personal loans.
"I think that message did get through."
Clement said the government asked for more information and some additional material arrived on the weekend and will be analyzed by officials.
He also noted that Chrysler isn’t asking for any more government aid in Canada beyond the $1 billion in bridge financing already requested last year.
"That has not flowed to Chrysler as of yet … We’re in (the process of) kind of the last t’s being crossed and i’s being dotted on that."
General Motors informed Clement and his Ontario counterpart Michael Bryant last Friday that the firm will need more than the $3 billion in aid already sought in Canada, but it put no precise figure on the latest request.
GM also indicated it will trim its Canadian operations to 7,000 employees by next year and slash its dealer network in the country.
It said, however, that Canadian vehicle production will be maintained at between 17 and 20 per cent of the total between 2009 and 2014.
European leaders from the Group of 20 states, meeting in Berlin to discuss the global crisis, may press banks to ditch “short-term interests” by setting aside more funds for lean times and curbing their system of bonuses.
“Banks must act in the long-term interests of their shareholders and therefore of the economy as a whole, not in the short-term interests of bankers,” U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a commentary published today in Britain’s Observer newspaper before attending the talks in Berlin. “That has to be the foundation on which a new system must be based. This starts with a rejection of the old short-term bonus culture.”
Banking rules are one of the topics to be discussed at today’s meeting being hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel with leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Also on the agenda are mounting financial problems for eastern Europe; tax havens; protectionism; and the role of the International Monetary Fund.
Europe’s G-20 leaders plus European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and Bank of England Governor Mervyn King will explore how to compel lenders to increase capital reserves in periods of faster economic growth, said German Deputy Finance Minister Joerg Asmussen who helped draft the program.
Banks Must Save
“Business policy by banks is part of this crisis,” Asmussen told reporters in Berlin Feb. 20. “We need to agree means, probably by augmenting Basel II banking rules, to force them to save for when economies cool.”
“We want to make sure that in future there will be no blind spots on the world map when it comes to financial-market products, market participants and instruments,” Merkel said yesterday in her weekly podcast.
Merkel has said she wants a united European response to the deepening recession to present at a full session of the G-20 in London in April to be attended by President Barack Obama on his first trip to Europe since taking office. The G-20 groups the major industrialized and developing countries, including China, Brazil and India.
“European leaders are coming to this meeting with differences over things such as fiscal stimulus and future regulatory steps,” Fredrik Erixon, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy in Brussels, said in a phone interview. “Do Merkel, Sarkozy and Brown want to go the London G-20 summit as just national leaders, or representing a common European position?”
G-20 London Summit
The meeting will build on the results of the G-20 summit in Washington in November, which drew up 47 points for action to overhaul the global financial system in the wake of the crisis that has triggered a global recession.
That “unusually concrete communique calling for a seamless control of financial markets means we need to draw all the steps together quickly,” Asmussen said.
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, in a position paper for the Berlin meeting e-mailed by his Ministry yesterday, sets out five areas for discussion lowest fee payday loans. These include greater transparency and accountability; reform of international institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and Financial Stability Forum; promoting “integrity” in financial markets; and enhancing “sound regulation.”
Steinbrueck calls for “a commitment by G-20 members to implement a global charter of regulatory and supervisory principles.” He adds that “all significant entities” in financial markets “should be submitted to appropriate regulations.”
EU Bailouts
The paper makes no mention of bailing out fellow European Union members in financial difficulty. Steinbrueck raised the matter on Feb. 18 when he said that European governments may be forced to contemplate the bailout of entire nations, in contrast to EU rules which don’t require such action.
ECB Executive Board Member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi weighed in to the debate yesterday, saying that current rules permit the EU “as a whole” to aid a member state in “economic difficulty.”
The World Bank warned Feb. 20 that the economies of the European Union’s eastern members, once the “great success” of the 27-member bloc, are being pummeled by plunging exports to the west, faltering foreign investment and a lack of bank credit.
Brown said Feb. 19 that the G-20 and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development should look at ways to help eastern European countries tackle the financial crisis.
‘Not Enough’
“Governments are having to take action to stabilize the financial system and nations acting alone will not be enough,” Brown said.
The EU plans to hold a special summit on March 1 to coordinate national responses to the economic crisis.
“The situation in many member states is worrying me, and I feel we need to give the highest political attention to our common fight in the crisis,” Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, told reporters in Brussels earlier this month.
Eastern Europe’s economies are slowing at a much faster pace than forecast as exports to the EU slump and investors flee from risky countries, putting pressure on currencies, bonds and other assets. Countries including Hungary and Ukraine have sought IMF loans to prop up their economies.
New York University economist Nouriel Roubini said that Europe’s banking system faces growing risks because of losses in the region’s emerging markets, and the crisis may require a region-wide rescue effort.
“The banking problem in Europe is becoming more severe,” Roubini said in a Feb. 20 Bloomberg Television interview. “You have a series of countries that are really in trouble,” Roubini said, citing Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Belarus and Ukraine.
SynthaSite, a company that supplies Web-site creation tools for individuals and small businesses, raised a $20 million Series B round from Luxembourg-based Reinet Fund S.C.A., according to a company statement.
The San Francisco company says that it’s going to use the money to accelerate the development of more tools, including a peer-to-peer e-commerce platform, as well as expand its operations through hiring and acquisitions payday loans guaranteed no fax.
Will Toll Brothers Inc. get through the housing and economic mess OK? What about its stock?
As one of the nation’s leading builders of luxury houses, it is in many ways better positioned to deal with recession than competitors trying to sell to less-affluent customers.
It is loaded with cash, has a solid balance sheet and doesn’t have to sell off any land holdings in desperation.
Yet despite being an industry leader, it faces an arduous industry year of fewer buyers and more sales contract cancellations because of uncertainty about the duration and depth of the housing downturn. To deal with this, it has aggressively begun to offer below-market-rate mortgages on its homes.
Toll Brothers shares rose 7 percent last year, following a 38 percent decline in 2007.
Founded in 1967 by brothers Robert and Bruce Toll, it has operations in 21 states. Robert remains the CEO, and company insiders own about one-fourth of the firm’s shares.
Toll Brothers reported a net loss of $298 million in its last fiscal year, the first loss since it was first publicly traded 22 years ago. It is considered unlikely to produce a profit in 2009. Several joint-venture partners were foreclosed upon, and it must also contend with the depressed value of tens of thousands of its lots. It is expected to continue to take impairments, or reductions in its capital.
Toll Brothers expects to deliver between 2,000 and 3,000 houses this year, compared with its peak of 8,769 in 2005. Houses carry price tags of $600,000 and above.
The question mark remains in the housing market, with a huge amount of inventory to be worked off and foreclosures in high gear. Recovery could begin this year but perhaps not until 2010. The effectiveness of steps by the government to stimulate house buying will play a role.
According to Thomson Financial, analysts’ ratings on the stock consist of three "strong buys," five "buys," nine "holds" and one "sell."
I thought funds that included stocks and bonds were supposed to be superior in downturns. What about my T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund?
Ah, the good old days: Prior to 2008, the fund had posted a gain for 17 consecutive calendar years through its judicious asset allocation of stocks, bonds, convertible bonds and cash.
But that run ended last year with a 27 percent drop as the bottom fell out of virtually everything, with its convertible bonds especially hard-hit.
The $7 billion T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund declined 23 percent over the last 12 months and had a three-year annualized decline of 5 percent. Both results rank in the upper third of moderate allocation funds.
Portfolio manager David Giroux, previously an industry analyst, took over the fund in mid-2006. The fund reports he has between $100,000 and $500,000 of his own money invested in the fund payday loan help.
"Over time the fund has a very good record, and Giroux has continued to generate a pretty solid record, though losing money in 2008 was pretty unavoidable," said Greg Carlson, an analyst with Morningstar Inc. "It has a value-oriented process that’s a little on the contrarian side."
Sixty percent to 70 percent of the portfolio is kept in stocks considered to have been overly punished by the market. It also keeps 10 percent or more in convertible bonds. The remainder of the portfolio is generally in cash or traditional bonds.
"Giroux has a lot of areas to cover here, but he was an excellent analyst," Carlson said. "He had a lot of preparation for this role and receives pretty significant (research) help."
Financial services is the largest concentration, with 16 percent of the portfolio; industrial materials and energy are other major holdings. Top holdings include Tyco Electronics Ltd., Time Warner Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp., Danaher Corp., AT&T Inc., Bank of America Corp. preferred, Covidien Ltd., Ameriprise Financial Inc. and Illinois Tool Works Inc.
The no-load fund requires a $2,500 minimum initial investment. Its annual expense ratio is 0.70 percent. T. Rowe Price is a solid parent company known for quality research, strong shareholder communication and above-average returns.
My planner says I can still make my individual retirement account contribution for 2008 in 2009. Is that true? What’s the most I can contribute? He also thinks I should convert to a Roth IRA. Are contribution limits the same?
You can make your contribution to a 2008 IRA until April 15. The contribution limit for traditional and Roth IRAs is $5,000. If you’re 50 or older, you can contribute an extra $1,000.
"To convert an IRA to a Roth IRA, there are income limitations," said Molly Balunek, certified financial planner and vice president of Spero-Smith Investment Advisers in Cleveland.
"For 2008 and 2009, you can only convert if your modified adjusted gross income is $100,000 or less, which is the same for both married couples and single individuals."
The annual amount you can put into a Roth IRA as a regular contribution is reduced or eliminated as your income goes above certain levels.
In 2008, single filers have a phase-out range of $101,000 to $116,000, while joint-filing married couples have a phase-out range of $159,000 to $169,000. For 2009, phase-out range for single filers is $105,000 to $120,000, while married joint filers have a phase-out range of $166,000 to $176,000.
andrewinv@aol.com
2008, TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES INC.
Thailand plans to ease restrictions on foreign ownership of banks and may offer new licenses to lure overseas investment and spur lending as Southeast Asia’s second- biggest economy slows. Banking stocks rose.
The Finance Ministry may approve the plan in March, Bank of Thailand Governor Tarisa Watanagase said in an interview in Bangkok yesterday. The licenses will allow overseas lenders to expand and open full-fledged local banks.
“We don’t just blow the whistle and let everyone in at one go,” said Tarisa, 59, the first woman to helm the nation’s central bank. “We are taking a careful approach in opening up our financial sector. We realize that liberalization is something that will bring benefits to the financial sector, to the consumers.”
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is seeking funds from abroad to revive an economy forecast to expand at its slowest pace in almost a decade as the intensifying global credit crisis dries up exports and investment. Foreign ownership of Thai banks is capped at 49 percent. Domestic banks have forecast lending will expand this year at about a third of last year’s pace.
Bangkok Bank Pcl, the nation’s biggest lender, rose as much as 4 percent and gained 3.4 percent to 77 baht at 12:30 p.m. in Bangkok, headed for its highest close since Nov. 7. Siam Commercial Bank Pcl, the No. 4 bank, gained 3.6 percent to 57 baht, marking its fifth straight day of advances. Bank of Ayudhya Pcl, controlled by General Electric Co., rose 2.8 percent, to 9.2 baht.
‘Not Good Timing’
“This will give banks more flexibility in finding foreign partners,” said Sukanya Udomvoranun, an analyst at Kim Eng Securities Pcl, the nation’s biggest stock brokerage by trading volume. “It’s a good start, but it will take time to implement given the current financial crisis.”
The plan to loosen restrictions comes as global financial companies are hobbled by more than $1 trillion of losses and credit-market writedowns since 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Citigroup Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Plc are among banks that are paring international operations after accepting government bailouts.
“It is just not good timing,” said Poramet Tongbua, head of research at Tisco Securities Ltd. in Bangkok. “Thailand can’t draw much interest as foreign banks are suffering from the credit crunch and aren’t in any shape to expand.”
Economy Slows
Thailand has 14 commercial banks, including Bangkok Bank, Siam Commercial Bank and Kasikornbank Pcl. Indonesia, which has about 128 commercial banks, allows foreign banks to own stakes of as much as 99 percent in local lenders.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy may expand no more than 2 percent this year, according to the central bank. Exports, which make up 70 percent of Thailand’s gross domestic product, may shrink in 2009 as orders slump amid a global recession, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Feb. 4.
The Bank of Thailand has said it may continue easing monetary policy after cutting its benchmark interest rate to 2 percent in two reductions since Dec. 3.
The opening of the nation’s banking sector will be gradual to allow local lenders time to adjust to increased competition, Tarisa said. Inflows to the local branches of foreign banks and overseas borrowings in the early 1990s led to the baht devaluation in 1997 and the Asian financial crisis, she said no credit check payday loans.
‘Don’t Want Another Crisis’
“We aren’t going to let it happen in the next two months,” said Tarisa, who has headed the central bank since 2006. “We have to make sure there are certain steps and conditions that will ensure the transition won’t be too disruptive. We certainly don’t want to have another crisis.”
Malaysia’s central bank is considering a liberalization program for the domestic banking industry, Central Bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said in December, without providing details. Malaysia has nine locally owned commercial banks, and allows 30 percent foreign ownership in such lenders.
The Netherlands ING Groep NV and Malaysia’s Bumiputra- Commerce Holdings Bhd. have expanded in the $269 billion Thai economy as demand for loans and services from consumers and small and medium-sized companies rise. ING has a 26 percent stake in TMB Bank Pcl, and Bumiputra-Commerce has a 42 percent share in BankThai Pcl.
Raising Stakes
Thailand’s Finance Ministry gave Bumiputra-Commerce approval in October to lift its stake in BankThai above the 49 percent foreign ownership limit. Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-biggest by assets, said Feb. 3 it doubled its stake to 49 percent in Thanachart Bank, the nation’s biggest auto-finance company.
Tarisa doesn’t “need to worry about being knocked over by a rush of foreign banks desperate to snap up local banks,” said Sean Callow, a Sydney-based currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp., Australia’s biggest lender by market value. “Many banks are focusing on their home countries. It will take time for foreign investors to be confident that there will be policy continuity.”
Still, Thailand’s government has “struggled” to achieve competition in the banking industry, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said Feb. 4.
The central bank regulates banking in the nation and would have to change its rules to allow foreign lenders greater access. Overseas banks that operate in Thailand, including New York-based Citigroup Inc. and London-based HSBC Holdings Plc, are limited by the central bank to having a single branch each.
“Not everyone will get a license,” Tarisa said. It will be for “anyone who is fit and proper, and anyone who can bring value to the system.”
Seeking State Aid
Thailand’s commercial banks are seeking so-called soft loans of 50 billion baht ($1.4 billion) from the government, designed to help them lend to exporters, Thai Bankers Association Secretary-General Twatchai Yongkittikul said Feb. 2.
The banks face a “deteriorating outlook” this year because of worsening asset quality and slower loan growth amid the economic slump, Fitch Ratings Thailand said Jan. 23. Moody’s Investors Service lowered the outlook on the foreign currency debt and deposit ratings of eight Thai lenders on Dec. 5 to “negative” from “stable,” citing slower growth.
Loan expansion will slow to about 5 percent this year as the economy weakens, Apisak Tantivorawong, president of the Thai Bankers’ Association and state-owned Krung Thai Bank Pcl, said Jan. 5. That’s less than half the 13 percent pace posted in 2008 by Bangkok Bank, the largest lender.
Pink slips went out today to 686 salaried and unionized employees of Xstrata Nickel in Sudbury, further affecting a region in northern Ontario that has been hit hard by low commodity prices and a mining industry slump.
Xstrata Nickel, the former Falconbridge Ltd., said it will shutter the Fraser mine, reduce production at the Strathcona mill to two shifts from four, and defer the Fraser Morgan development project indefinitely. The Craig and Thayer-Lindsley operations, which were reaching the end of their productive lives, will also close effective immediately.
The president of the union local representing Xstrata employees said he knew layoffs were coming, but was surprised at the scale of today’s announcement.
"We anticipated something. I mean, our current mines are pretty near exhausted, and we’re spending a lot of capital to bring online the Nickel Rim (project) and Fraser Morgan," said Dwight Harper, president of Canadian Auto Workers Local 598.
"Obviously with the economics the way they are monies are tight, and so we anticipated something, but not to this scale."
Xstrata said the announcement won’t affect the Nickel Rim South project, and Fraser Morgan "may be re-initiated when economic conditions allow."
Xstrata Nickel’s chief executive said his company is "fully committed" to its operations in the Sudbury area, where the company employs about 1,700 people, and development of the Nickel Rim project remains a top priority.
"The continued decline of the economic environment and deteriorating commodity markets, coupled with high operating costs particularly at our older mines, are negatively impacting our Sudbury operations," Ian Pearce said in a statement.
"The actions announced today aim to reposition our Sudbury complex into the bottom quartile of the cost curve, ensure our operations remain financially robust even during a potentially long period of depressed commodity prices and establish a strong foundation for further growth in the region."
Marc Boissonneault, vice-president of Xstrata Nickel’s Sudbury operations, said work will be halted for three days so the restructuring can begin. He added that laid off employees will have access to professional job placement services and expanded employee assistance programs.
"We are making these tough decisions to sustain our business in the immediate and longer term," Boissonneault said in a statement guaranteed payday loan.
"Ultimately, these actions will result in more robust and viable operations at Sudbury that continue to create value and jobs for the local community over the medium and long term."
But Harper said the impact of the layoffs will be felt far beyond Xstrata’s operations, affecting the entire northern Ontario community of approximately 150,000.
"This is just going to snowball," he said. "All of the secondary industry that supports Xstrata, and the local economy is sustained by the good wages that Xstrata pays – are all going to suffer as a result."
Xstrata Nickel, formerly Falconbridge, said production from the company’s Sudbury smelter is not expected to be affected as shortfalls from the production cuts will be made up for with concentrates from the company’s Nickel Rim and Nickel Australasia operations.
Falconbridge, the iconic nickel company, was acquired by Swiss-based mining giant Xstrata PLC in late 2006 in a cash swap $23.8 billion deal which began a takeover binge that also saw the former Inco Ltd. and Alcan Inc. acquired by foreign companies.
Today’s cuts reflect tough times in the Canadian mining industry, as companies cut jobs and shut down mines in reaction to falling prices and slumping demand for copper, zinc, aluminum and other base metals.
Nickel has been hit particularly hard. Nickel prices were hovering around US$5 per pound today after dropping as low as $4 per pound in December. Prices for the metal had soared above $20 a pound in early 2007 before plunging along with the stock markets and the economic outlook in late 2008.
Several Canadian companies – including Xstrata, Rio Tinto Alcan, Vale Inco and others – have scaled back expansions, cut jobs and shut down unprofitable mines to conserve cash and get through one of the industry’s most difficult periods in decades.
And some analysts predict some of the biggest companies will go bankrupt before conditions start to improve.
Northern Ontario has been hit particularly hard by the slump in the industry, as the region relies on its nickel and copper mines, among others, for a large chunk of its employment.
This year alone, mineral production generated $10 billion and exploration activities amounted to a $600-million industry in Ontario.
Hawaii interisland shipper Young Brothers Ltd. has reached a tentative agreement with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142 on a six-year contract for some 200 workers statewide.
Details of the agreement were not released.
ILWU Local 142 workers on Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island are scheduled to vote on the contract between Feb. 21 and 27.
Members on Maui, Molokai and Lanai will vote on March 3.
The contract covers freight clerks and longshore, clerical and maintenance workers cash advance payday loan.
Young Brothers Ltd., which is owned by Seattle-based Saltchuk Resources, provides cargo service throughout the state with ports in Honolulu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Hilo and Kawaihae on the Big Island, and Nawiliwili, Kauai.
Powered by WordPress -- XHTML 1.0