LS-Nikko Copper planning to restart No. 2 plant this week

Korea’s LS-Nikko Copper plans to restart its No. 2 plant this week, a company spokesman said on Monday, after the smelter was closed for almost a month following an explosion that injured eight workers.

Since the accident, the Ministry of Employment and Labor had investigated the plant for safety and lifted an operations ban at the end of May, spokesman Shin Dong-gwang said. The plant, located in Ulsan, has a capacity to produce 290,000 tons per year of copper.

“We are now preparing to restart the plant and we plan to restart it within this week,” Shin said, adding the exact date has not been confirmed.

Last month, LS-Nikko also had a brief shutdown of its No. 1 plant with 200,000-tpy capacity due to a fire at a cooling tower, which, along with the closure of the No. 2 plant, buoyed metal prices as buyers found it hard to source alternative supplies.

South Korea’s LS owns a 50.1 percent stake in LS-Nikko and a Japanese consortium holds the remainder, according to the company website (www.lsnikko.com).