Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Vale SA, the world’s second-biggest nickel producer, intends to resume partial operations at the metals smelter at Sudbury, its largest nickel and copper mine in Canada, amid a strike. No talks with strikers are planned.

Vale is training non-striking staff to operate the smelter, whose restart date hasn’t yet been announced, Cory McPhee, Toronto-based spokesman with Vale Inco Ltd., said today in a telephone interview. The smelter will produce metals from ore concentrates produced at the Sudbury mill, McPhee said.

About 3,300 of almost 4,600 employees at Sudbury walked off the job on July 13 after talks broke down over a labor contract, leading to the longest strike in Vale’s 67-year history. Output was paralyzed and customers supplied by stockpiles. In early October, Vale restarted operations at Sudbury’s Clarabelle mill and two mines using 1,200 non-strikers retrained for the job.

“The smelter is a more complex operation,” McPhee said. “Training takes longer.”

Vale has been training staff since late August for the intended smelter restart, he said.

OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel is the world’s largest nickel producer. About 75 percent of Vale’s nickel production comes from Canada, where its second-biggest mine operation, at Voisey’s Bay, has also been halted by a strike since Aug. 1.

To contact the reporter on this story: Diana Kinch in Rio de Janeiro at dkinch1@bloomberg.net