BHP Says Australia's Kwinana Nickel Refinery Reopened

PERTH, Mar. 29 -- BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company, said its Kwinana nickel refinery in Western Australia restarted operations March 26 after an 11-day unscheduled shutdown because of a hydrogen gas shortage.

"We're opening it with an external supply of hydrogen," Melbourne-based spokeswoman Amanda Buckley said today in a phone interview. "Any potential repair of the existing hydrogen plant is being assessed." She declined to say whether the refinery is running at full capacity or whether nickel shipments have resumed as normal. Hydrogen gas is a key ingredient in the process of refining nickel.

BHP's Nickel West operations, which include the Kwinana refinery, a smelter in Kalgoorlie and a concentrator at Kambalda, produced 59,400 tons of nickel concentrate in the six months to Dec. 31. Nickel, used to strengthen steel, has more than doubled in London in the past year because of demand from China, the world's fastest-growing major economy.

BHP's Sydney-traded shares rose 0.4 percent to A$43.45 at 1:42 p.m. local time on the Australian stock exchange.

The refinery was shut March 15 after BHP's own hydrogen plant at the site experienced "problems" and alternative sources for the gas weren't available, Buckley said March 18. BHP is in the process of designing and constructing a new hydrogen plant at Kwinana, scheduled to be completed 2011, she said.

Nickel matte that was produced from BHP's Kalgoorlie smelter during the shutdown will be shipped in its unrefined state, Buckley said today.