Oz Minerals cut copper output after Australia power outage
Port Pire lead smelter down
A massive blackout in South Australia on Wednesday forced BHP Billiton to suspend production at its Olympic Dam copper mine to divert back-up power to maintain essential operations at the remote site.
The mine produced 203 000 tonnes of copper in fiscal 2016, or about 13 percent of company-wide output.
The outage also brought Oz Minerals'' Prominent Hill mine, which is forecast to produce up to 125 000 tonnes of copper in concentrate this year, to a halt, a spokesman said.
Nyrstar NV said its 185 000-tonnes-per-year Port
Pirie lead smelter will be out of action for up to two weeks.
London lead futures climbed to the highest since May last year over supply concerns.
A back-up diesel generator at the smelter kept the furnace going for several hours when power was cut to the entire state yesterday.
But repairs to a blast furnace, damaged when power was lost and slag solidified, could result in the company losing "three to five million euros".
"It is expected that the blast furnace will be down for approximately 10 to 14 days for repairs," Nyrstar said.
Severe storms and thousands of lightning strikes knocked out power to the entire state of South Australia on Wednesday.
A BHP spokesman said back-up generators were providing power to critical infrastructure but a full restart of operations will only occur when full power is restored.
It was too early to determine if BHP would seek legal protection from supply obligations under a declaration of force majeure, he said.
The blackout happened after strong winds destroyed major power lines north of the state capital Adelaide and lightning struck a power plant, causing a surge across the grid. The network and link to neighbouring Victoria state shut down to prevent damage to infrastructure, causing a state-wide outage. Nampa/Reuters
The mine produced 203 000 tonnes of copper in fiscal 2016, or about 13 percent of company-wide output.
The outage also brought Oz Minerals'' Prominent Hill mine, which is forecast to produce up to 125 000 tonnes of copper in concentrate this year, to a halt, a spokesman said.
Nyrstar NV said its 185 000-tonnes-per-year Port
Pirie lead smelter will be out of action for up to two weeks.
London lead futures climbed to the highest since May last year over supply concerns.
A back-up diesel generator at the smelter kept the furnace going for several hours when power was cut to the entire state yesterday.
But repairs to a blast furnace, damaged when power was lost and slag solidified, could result in the company losing "three to five million euros".
"It is expected that the blast furnace will be down for approximately 10 to 14 days for repairs," Nyrstar said.
Severe storms and thousands of lightning strikes knocked out power to the entire state of South Australia on Wednesday.
A BHP spokesman said back-up generators were providing power to critical infrastructure but a full restart of operations will only occur when full power is restored.
It was too early to determine if BHP would seek legal protection from supply obligations under a declaration of force majeure, he said.
The blackout happened after strong winds destroyed major power lines north of the state capital Adelaide and lightning struck a power plant, causing a surge across the grid. The network and link to neighbouring Victoria state shut down to prevent damage to infrastructure, causing a state-wide outage. Nampa/Reuters
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