Singapore 01/10/2015 - Japan’s Pan Pacific Copper (PPC) said it expects production loss of around 30,000 tonnes due to the fire at subsidiary Hibi Kyodo Smelting Co’s Tamano Smelter in September.
Operations at the smelter are expected to resume around October 20, PPC said on Wednesday.
The Tamano smelter in Okayama prefecture has 290,000 tonnes per year of refined copper production capacity.
A fire had occurred at the smelter on September 9 after a leak from its converter furnace ignited combustible matter near its flash furnace control room. Molten material had leaked as the furnace’s refractory lining had eroded.
The fire had burned the smelter’s flash furnace control room and control system. There were no fatalities.
PPC said it will step up upgrades to its convertor furnace’s refractory lining, augment leakage barriers around furnace pits and relocate combustible materials inside the smelter.
Other than the Tamano smelter, PPC also has two other smelting and refining operations in Japan - the Saganoseki Smelter and Refinery, and the Hitachi Refinery, which have total copper production capacity of 450,000 tonnes per year.