The Indonesian unit of Canadian nickel producer Inco Ltd said on Monday its nickel matte output is expected to drop by 1 million pounds a week due to a fire at one of its four smelters last week.
The fire occurred in the transformer room at Inco's second smelter in Sorowako, Sulawesi island. There were no casualties. "The company is investigating the source and impact of the fire. Initial indications show it will take 7-8 weeks before the smelter returns to normal operation," PT International Nickel Indonesia said on its Web site.
"Until the second smelter can return to normal, Inco expects nickel in matte production in Sorowako will be reduced by 1 million pounds every week," it said.
Company officials were not immediately available to comment.
Nickel in matte is an intermediary product that must be further refined to make pure metal. Inco churned out 38.3 million pounds of nickel in matte in January-March and has targeted 2006 output at 167 million pounds.
Comments
Comments are closed.