Giant Nickel Merger

Two of Canada's largest nickel mining companies are merging to create the world's largest nickel producer. (Reuters) Inco Ltd is buying Falconbridge Ltd for Can$12 billion, eliminating the threat that non-Canadian owners might control Falconbridge and its enormous nickel reserves in the Sudbury impact structure, north of Lake Huron. Inco will produce about 24 percent of the world's nickel.