Vale Indonesia continues to be hit by faulty furnace
Thursday, March 15 2012 - 04:55 AM WIB
Indonesian-listed PT Vale Indonesia Tbk, the nation?s biggest nickel miner, may suffer a 25 percent drop in nickel production in the first quarter from a year earlier, due to lingering furnace problem that started late last year.
Bernardus Imanto, Vice President of Vale Indonesia, said that at the moment the firm?s production facility only operates with 3 furnaces out of the 4 furnaces it has, hurting production, Kontan reported. The fourth one is undergoing repair works.
But Bernardus expects that once the repairs completed, overall production throughout this year would increase to 72,000 tons of nickel matte from last year?s 66.900 tons.
Vale Indonesia is a unit of the world?s second-biggest nickel producer Brazil?s Vale SA. Vale Canada, a unit of the Brazilian company, has a 58.7 percent stake in Vale Indonesia, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. holds 20.1 percent and the public owns 21.2 percent. (*)