Boliden’s Ronneskar metals smelter damaged in fire, output halted

Leaching plant at Rönnskär. (Image courtesy of Boliden.)

A fire broke out overnight at Sweden’s Ronnskar smelter, a major producer of copper, zinc, lead and other metals, and output from the site has been halted until further notice, plant owner Boliden said.

The fire was still burning at the plant’s cell house on Tuesday morning and the fire service was working to bring the flames under control, a company spokesperson said.

“All production at Ronnskar is stopped until further notice, an initial assessment is that this can be resumed within a few weeks,” Boliden said in a statement.

Ronnskar is Boliden’s biggest production unit.

It was not possible to assess the extent of the damage, but the smelter’s cell house has been destroyed, it added.

The Swedish group said there were no reports of injuries.

(By Louise Breusch Rasmussen; Editing by Anna Ringstrom, Terje Solsvik and Louise Heavens)

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