BHP Billiton says its Kalgoorlie nickel smelter has been ramped up to full production after an unscheduled maintenance shutdown in September.
The outage, which coincided with maintenance work at the company’s Yabulu refinery, slashed quarterly nickel production by 31%, down to 26,800t.
The company was able to compensate for this by increasing production runs at the Ravensthorpe and Yabulu expansion facilities.
BHP announced the closure of its Kalgoorlie nickel smelter in June 2008, for repairs to the furnace because of safety concerns. Since this closure, however, nickel has lost more than half of its value.
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