Koniambo nickel plant suspends nickel production

LONDON (Scrap Monster): The company had held down the production in the nickel plant, after the spill from the furnace had taken place on the 26^th of Decemeber, as a part of an investigation, which was required to know what the reason of the spill was. According to the initial assessment given by the staffs in the plant, no major physical impact was caused due to the spill, and also the major part of the impact was contained in the metal tapping area of the company.

Glencore had declared that, other than the production in the nickel plant, all other operations in the plant will remain as it was. No injuries or any kind of impact on the environment was reported in the area.  The Glencore holds about 49 percent of the stake of the plant, and the remaining 51 percent as well as the major stake oof the plant is held by a New Caledonia based firm.

The plant was designed to produce about 60,000 tonnes of nickel per year, and the plant was officially inaugurated by the French President, Francois Hollande. In the third quarter the  nickel plant had produced about 8,600 tonnes of nickel, as ferronickel.

The operations at the rival plant, Goro Nickel processing plant, which was owned by vale, had halted its operations three weeks earlier,. As about 10,000 liters acid was leaked from the plant.