He angled two large mining companies, Inco and Falconbridge, into a bidding war.

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Earlier this year, the shareholders of Inco and Falconbridge rejected a three-way tie-up with Phelps Dodge, an American copper miner.

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And Canada-based Inco (nyse: N - news - people ) is among the leading providers of nickel globally.

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New Caledonia produces 30 percent of the world's nickel, with major producers SLN, Inco, Phelps Dodge and Falconridge all operating there.

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Newfoundland, Canada's poorest province, would not let Inco dig up the site unless the company promised to build a smelter and process the nickel in the province.

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Newer ETFs include the EG Shares India Consumer ETF ( INCO) and the Direxion Daily India Bear 2x Shares ( INDZ), which tracks the Indus India Index.

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No wonder that Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, a big Brazilian iron-ore producer, is buying Inco, one of the two Canadian nickel firms gobbled up in recent deals.

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Inco, which made pots of cash in its first years under Brazilian ownership, is paralysed by a strike, now in its tenth month, that shows no sign of ending.

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