Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (Vale) of Brazil announced on the 4th of September (local time) that Rio Doce Manganese Europe (RDME), a subsidiary of Vale in France, has been interrupted to produce manganese ferro-alloys due to a leakage of molten metal from one large electric furnace at the Dunkirk plant of RDME in France.
In consequence of this accident, it will require to take 6 months for repairs of this electric furnace and it is inevitable to decrease the production of manganese ferro-alloys at RDME. The stoppage of its operation is anticipated to continue until February of 2009. This accident of the electric furnace occurred in August of this year and, after that, the operation rate at the Dunkirk plant has fallen to 60%. The Company estimates that this shutdown will cause to decrease the production of manganese ferro-alloys at the French plant by 45,000 tons. |
