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Nikkelverk Refinery 

 Description

Nikkelverk is a refinery in Kristiansand, Norway. The primary metals refined at Nikkelverk are nickel, copper, cobalt and precious metals. The plant ranks among the lowest-cost nickel refineries in the western world and is ISO 9001 quality, ISO 14001 environment certified and OHSAS 12001 health and safety certified. The Nikkelverk refinery uses a chlorine leach and electrowinning process to separate and recover component metals. It is a cost-efficient process for treating complex raw materials, which achieves high productivity and recoveries. This efficiency allows greater flexibility in sourcing and treating custom feed. The refinery processes a granulated matte produced by the Sudbury smelter operations as well as custom feed from other sources. The granulated matte is crushed to a very fine powder and then transported to the chlorine leach plant. The metals contained in the matte are separated and distributed to the various process areas for further purification and refining. From there, the products are cut, packaged and shipped to world markets.

 History

Nikkelverk opened in 1910 as Kristiansands Nikkelraffineringsverk and was acquired by Falconbridge on June 14, 1929. Xstrata acquired Falconbridge Limited on August 21, 2006.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The refinery plays an important role in the city of Kristiansand and is one of the major industrial employers of southern Norway.

Flow Sheet

Click on the link below to view the flow sheet of Nikkelverk Refinery

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Xstrata
Fast Facts

LOCATIONNorway, Europe
PRODUCTSRefinery and sulphuric acid plant
EMPLOYEES500
Annual production capacityThe Nikkelverk refinery has the capacity to process 92,000 tonnes of nickel, 39,000 tonnes of copper cathodes and 5,200 tonnes of cobalt annually. It also produces sulphuric acid and treats the silver, gold and platina metals contained in the Sudbury and Raglan feeds and in the feed from other sources.
WEBSITE

www.xstratanikkelverk.no