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Xstrata to Shut Canadian Smelter for Two Months on Acid Demand
By Brett Foley
April 6, 2009 (Bloomberg) — Xstrata Plc, the world’s fourth- largest copper producer, said it will shut a smelter at its Kidd Creek plant in Canada for two months due to falling demand for sulfuric acid.
The smelter in northern Ontario will close on April 13 for eight weeks following a “significant drop” in demand for sulfuric acid, Xstrata spokeswoman Claire Divver said today by telephone from London. Sulfuric acid is a byproduct of copper smelting. Kidd Creek’s concentrator and zinc plant will continue to operate, Divver added.
Kidd Creek has annual capacity of 135,000 metric tons of copper cathode and produced 87,300 tons of the metal sheets last year, Zug, Switzerland-based Xstrata’s annual report shows. Cathodes, or copper sheets, are smelted from copper concentrate, which is semi-processed material shipped from mines.
The Canadian site, which Xstrata acquired on buying Falconbridge Ltd. in 2006, has the world’s deepest copper and zinc mine, a refinery and a smelter.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brett Foley in London at bfoley8@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: April 6, 2009 13:06 EDT
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