The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Vale expected to have its Thompson nickel smelter back up and running by Wednesday following a fire. The fire occurred March 15 when an electrode on a smelter furnace super heated, causing the contact pads and isolation wood to ignite. 'The latest information is that the necessary repairs and inspections were made by 3 a.m. Monday morning and power was restored to the furnace at that time,' company spokesperson Ryan Land said. 'Heat-up is progressing and we expect to be operating normally by (Wednesday). 'It will take some time to bring the core temperature of the furnace back to the appropriate level and we need to do so while managing risk. There has been some interruption to production, but we will not know exactly how much until our operations are back online.' There were no injuries or 'risk to the public or the environment' from the fire, Land said previously. 'Our fire crew quickly extinguished the fire and managed the scene,' he said. 'There were no injuries and although there may have been heavier-than-usual discharge visible from the smelter, there was no risk to the public or the environment.' _ With files from John Barker, Thompson Citizen
