A marriage made in mining heaven.

One of the biggest corporate stories of the past year has been the friendly takeover of Falconbridge Limited by Inco Ltd.--a metallic marriage made in mining heaven.

One of the best parts of this merger is the $350 million worth of synergies and cost savings it will create, many to be found in the Sudbury Basin--the corporate birth place of both Inco (1902) and Falconbridge (1928), where they are basically mining the same gigantic ore body.

Inco CEO Scott Hand will forge a lasting legacy in the corporate history of this country by creating a global mining powerhouse, and ensuring that these two historic companies stay under Canadian control.

However, rumours continue to persist that Swiss-based Xastra PLC or some other foreign competitor may still try to acquire Falconbridge or the combined new company. Canadians must ask themselves and our federal candidates if they should allow the foreign takeover of such an important company and strategic resource.

The Sudbury Basin is the second most important natural resource in the country after the Alberta Tar Sands. Located 400 kilometres north of Toronto, the rich nickel sulphide deposits were discovered in 1883, during the construction of the Canadian National Railway.

For the past quarter-century its geological wealth was of little consequence in a world flooded with commodities. Times have certainly changed. The Basin has always been the richest mining district in North America and among the top ten most significant globally.

Nickel, a silvery-white metal, is predominately used in austenitic stainless steel, one of the basic building blocks of any modern society, and in a wide variety of other industrial applications and military uses that have no other metallic substitutes. In fact nickel, which is usually mixed with other metals to form superior alloys, is used in over 300,000 products. Due to rapidly industrializing countries like China, India, Brazil and many others, demand for this metal is soaring. We are entering a commodity super cycle that will last for decades.

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Aside from supplying about 15 per cent of the globe's nickel production, the Sudbury Basin is also a major copper producer and the world's third largest source of platinum group metals.

The Basin has always been the most secure and abundant source of these metals for America's enormous economy including that country's vast industrial-military complex--which by default also defends Canada.

During the past decade many significant new discoveries by Inco and Falconbridge have ensured that the Sudbury Basin will still be producing its metallic bounty for at least another century.

The development of the nickel belt and other Northern Ontario mineral deposits, over the past 100 years, have been an extraordinary economic engine for the regional economy as well as establishing Toronto as the undisputed global leader in a variety of specialized services for the mining sector. The Toronto Stock Exchange contains the largest group of mining companies in the world and is the best source of equity capital for exploration and mine development.

Canadian mining expertise and resources are recognized and envied around the world. It is one of the few industries where this country far outshines our neighbours to the south. Over the next few decades, there will be very few manufacturing jobs in the southern Ontario industrial heartland that will not be threatened by the low-wage economies of the developing world. Statistics Canada recently reported that Ontario lost 52,000 manufacturing jobs in the past year.

Paul Martin and Stephen Harper should both make it crystal clear that any foreign challenge to this merger or potential takeover of the combined company would not be in the economic best interest of the country and would not receive regulatory approval.

Last summer, Washington politicians effectively blocked a proposed Chinese takeover of oil producer Unocal Corp. due to national security reasons. In France, the government is compiling a list of strategic sectors that will not be allowed to fall under foreign control. This action was taken on the rumors that Brazillian miner CVRD was possibly looking at taking over the French mining company, Eramet Group, which controls nickel deposits on the island of New Caledonia.

Hand is creating a Canadian world-class metals and mining company, a $25-billion giant that will rank among the top six globally. This new Inco will be the largest nickel producer in the world with expertise in the development of both sulphide (Sudbury Basin) and laterite (New Caledonia) deposits. Of the six most important metals used by modern industrial society--iron, aluminum, nickel, copper, zinc and lead--nickel is the most complex and expensive to process.

We are witnessing the start of a tremendous upheaval and realignment in the global manufacturing sector that will significantly impact southern Ontario's manufacturing might. Canada's traditional know-how in the resource development sector and its raw materials will be playing a major role in this brave new economic world.

The new Inco, with its enormous mineral deposits and high-tech expertise must stay Canadian for the benefit of generations to come.

Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant and freelance journalist who writes extensively on mining and provincial issues. He can be reached at [e-mail].