re: time to short this stock Good luck with your shortingJust...

re: time to short this stock Good luck with your shorting

Just watch out that you do not loose your shorts in the process.....lol

jojo

Eramet Says Strikers Block Access to Second Pacific Nickel Mine

By Tan Hwee Ann

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Eramet SA, which operates the world's biggest ferronickel plant in New Caledonia, said strikers blocked access to a second of its four nickel mines on the French-controlled Pacific territory.

The Paris-based company still has access to its largest nickel mine and its smelter is operating at two-thirds capacity, said Pierre Alla, chief executive officer of Eramet's Le Nickel- SLN unit, over the phone. The mine which was blocked today was operating at 30 percent capacity on Oct. 23.

``If we keep operating the plant at this level, we can keep going,'' said Alla. ``Nothing much has changed.''

A general strike by the New Caledonian Confederated Union of Workers is in its fifth week. Prices of nickel, used in batteries and to rust-proof steel, have more than doubled this year, reaching the highest in at least 19 years this month due to the strike.

Police on Oct. 19 cleared strikers blocking access to the company's largest nickel mine, Tiebaghi.

New Caledonia, smaller in area than New Jersey, has about 25 percent of the world's known nickel resources, according to the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tan Hwee Ann in Melbourne at [email protected]

Last Updated: October 26, 2006 02:26 EDT