Thompson

City in north-central Manitoba, Canada, 210 km/130 mi north of Lake Winnipeg, on the Burntwood River; population (1991) 15,000. It was founded around a major nickel deposit discovered in the 1950s and remains dependent upon the export demand for nickel, although it turns out copper, cobalt, and precious metal by-products as well.

The city was built by the provincial government and Inco. Its integrated nickel mining plant was the first of its kind in the Western hemisphere.