Investigation continues into Feb. 6 incident

By: Stacey Lavallie - Sudbury Northern Life Staff

It will be a minimum of 16 weeks before the No. 2 furnace at the Vale Copper Cliff smelter is back up and running, but the company said it has no plans for layoffs or shutdowns.

The furnace was shut down after a Feb. 6 incident in which a failure in part of the furnace caused a leak of molten metal. The molten metal ruptured cooling lines, causing explosions in the smelter.

"The No. 1 flash furnace will continue to operate at full capacity," Angie Robson, Vale's manager of corporate affairs, said.

"There's no plan for temporary layoffs at this time, but the decision is going to require us to review our mining and milling plans to suit a one-furnace operation," she said. "That assessment is ongoing, but the objective is to minimize impacts on our people and our business as much as possible."

The furnace shut down could result in an output loss of 15,000 metric tons of finished nickel, or roughly five per cent of the total nickel production planned for 2011.

During the 16 weeks the furnace is shut down, the Ministry of Labour and Vale will continue its investigation into the cause of the incident, Robson said.

Robson said the amount of damage to the furnace isn't easily apparent at this stage into the investigation, and no estimate as to the cost of repairs was given.

In a Feb. 7 interview, Steelworkers Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand said he felt "very lucky" that no one was injured or died in the incident. He said some employees spotted the danger and got everyone out.

The damage was limited to the complex and the furnace. Furnace No. 1 was not damaged and will continue to operate as normal, Robson said.