Vale Boosts Nickel Production at its Clydach Refinery in Wales

CLYDACH, May 6 -- Vale SA will raise output at its Clydach nickel refinery in Wales to full capacity by the end of this week, taking semi-processed metal from a Canadian facility that has been hit by a labor strike.

Clydach is already operating at "better than 90 percent of capacity" and will raise production to 7.9 million pounds of nickel a month, Toronto-based spokesman Cory McPhee said in an e-mailed response to questions. Vale said on March 12 that the refinery was operating at a rate of 2.5 million pounds a month.

The plant is taking semi-processed nickel matte from Vale's Sudbury operations in Ontario, McPhee said in the e-mail sent late yesterday.

Sudbury workers walked out on July 13 after contract talks with the company broke down, leading to the longest strike in Vale's 67-year history. In early October, Rio de Janeiro-based Vale restarted the plant's Clarabelle mill with non-striking workers to produce copper concentrates. The Sudbury smelter has operated at 50 percent capacity since January.

Vale, the fourth-biggest nickel producer in 2009, operates six mines, a mill, a smelter and refinery in Sudbury, according to its Website. It will restart the Creighton and Coleman mines "to ensure an uninterrupted supply of feed for the single furnace operation" at the Sudbury smelter, McPhee said.

Nickel matte is material that has been smelted, though not refined, and has about 50 percent nickel content.