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A brief history of nickel’s benefits as told in advertising 1932-1947
By Stan Sudol
Nickel Magazine, September 2007 -- When the First World War ended, in
1918, the global market for nickel collapsed. Until then, the main use of nickel had been for military
applications. In November 1921, the International Nickel Company of Canada, a predecessor to today’s CVRD
Inco, completely shut down its nickel operations in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada – the source of about 90 per
cent of world nickel supply. Not until the following September did operations resume. The nickel miner was in
serious financial trouble.
In 1922 Robert Stanley was elected president of the company and immediately established a Development and
Research Department to promote peacetime industrial uses for nickel products. For this reason he is widely
credited for saving International Nickel from bankruptcy.
As new markets were found for nickel in agriculture, chemical processing, oil and gas, and pulp and paper,
the devastating bust of the early 1920s subsided and the community of Sudbury continued to grow. By 1929,
world use of nickel had reached an all-time high of 125 million pounds.
While the early stages of the Depression hampered nickel production and increased unemployment in Sudbury,
by 1933, new civilian uses for the metal, combined with re-arming for war, had brought renewed demand. In a
country ravaged by depression, Sudbury was one of Canada’s few economic bright spots.
The public, however, remained largely ignorant about non-military uses of nickel and of the significant
ways International Nickel was contributing to Canadian society during the Depression. For this reason, the
company decided to run a series of print advertisements in 1932.
Reaction to the first advertisements was overwhelmingly positive and the company continued the campaign,
adapting the messages to the prevailing economic and political conditions. At the start of the Second World
War, for example, nickel production in Sudbury accelerated dramatically, so the advertising reflected heroic
contributions and uses of the metal from the home front and the war effort.
In total, about 95 per cent of all Allied country demands for nickel came from the Sudbury Basin. From
1939 to 1945, International Nickel delivered to the Allied countries 1.5 billion pounds of nickel, 1.75
billion pounds of copper, and 1.8 million ounces of platinum metals. The tonnage of ore mined during the war
years was equivalent to the amount produced by the company and its predecessors during the previous 54 years
of their existence.
Throughout the 17 years of advertising showcased on the following pages and on the Nickel Institute’s web
site – www.nickelinstitute.org – the main theme has always been the enormous economic benefits Canadians have
received from the development of their country’s nickel resources. Today, many of those benefits remain the
same, while many additional nations enjoy economic benefits from the use and reuse of nickel-containing
materials.
Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant and policy
analyst who writes extensively on mining issues.
Illustrations: International Nickel Co. of Canada Ltd. (1930-1947)
Nickel Magazine
55 University Ave., Suite 1801
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
M5J 2H7
Tel: 1-416-591-7999
Fax: 1-416-591-7987
E-mail: pwhiteway@nickelinstitute.org
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