From Ontario, Canada, to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to the US city of Phoenix, Arizona, the global battle over precious metals has blasted open as big mining companies hunt down fresh supplies. And the rewards for those companies that emerge victorious are likely to be lucrative as commodity prices continue to strike record highs.
However, the rich seams and swelling corporate coffers have also sparked discontent, particularly in Chile where miners at the world's largest copper mine recently started strike action demanding better benefits.
Brazilian mining giant CVRD muscled onto the scene Friday as it unveiled a whopping 15.1 billion-dollar take-over bid for Canadian nickel miner Inco Limited, which is already being pursued by two other mining groups in a fierce contest.
As Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) announced its bid the price of nickel struck an all-time high of 27,300 dollars per tonne in London.
Global nickel supplies are already stretched and analysts said prices shot higher on reports that Inco had been hit by a strike at its Voisey's Bay mine.
Industrial tensions have also soured in Chile of late as metals prices streak ever higher.
Northern Chile's Escondida mine, the world's largest copper mine, was operating at less than 10 percent of capacity on Friday as over 2,000 workers demanding better pay continued a strike which was launched on Monday.
Workers at the vast mine, which is run by Anglo-Australian resources group BHP Billiton, are demanding a 13 percent wage increase as they say global copper prices have tripled since their last contract was signed three years ago.
Copper prices breached 8,000 dollars per tonne in the wake of the strike announcement.
As commodity prices have soared, partly on mounting demand from China's growing economy and its hunger for metals such as nickel which it does not possess in great volumes, companies have started eyeing up the their rivals.
CVRD was the latest group to enter the bidding war for Inco with its 17 billion Canadian dollar pitch, or 86.00 Canadian dollars (76.79 US dollars) per Inco share.
The Brazilian company's chief executive Roger Agnelli made it clear that CVRD has global ambitions. "The operations of the two companies are complementary and the combination will enhance our capabilities to benefit from the fast changing global landscape in metals and the mining industry," he said.
The deal would enable CVRD to become an even larger player in the world market for such metals as iron ore, pellets, nickel, bauxite, alumina, manganese and ferroalloys.
Canada's Teck Cominco and US mining behemoth Phelps Dodge are already bidding to swallow up Inco, however, as its shareholders mull competing offers.
Officials at Inco could not be reached for comment Friday, but the take-over battle has boosted its share price. On the New York Stock Exchange, its stock closed up 2.63 US dollars, or 3.4 percent, at 79.21 US dollars on Friday.
The nickel miner's board of directors said Tuesday that they were recommending Inco's shareholders reject the offer from Teck Cominco in favour of the offer from Phoenix-headquartered Phelps Dodge.
However, the board also said it would continue its talks with Teck Cominco in case a "superior proposal" emerges.
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