Ferronikeli
In April 2006, the Group acquired Ferronikeli, which owns a nickel production plant and mineral deposits in Kosovo. The Ferronikeli plant at Gllogovac in Kosovo was in a state of disrepair when it was purchased due to neglect, bombing during the Kosovo conflict in the late 1990s and plundering. The two-line plant was built in the 1980s using largely Soviet technology, but incorporating certain western elements such as the electric furnaces, rotary kilns and casting machines. Since its acquisition in 2006, the plant has been refurbished and restarted successfully.
Ferronikeli receives nickel ore from its Chikatovo and Glavitca mines in Kosovo and elsewhere in the region, and from third party sources. Each process line of the Ferronikeli plant consists of a rotary kiln, a smelter and an oxygen converter. Ore is delivered to the plant by road or rail and preparation of the laterite oxide takes place in hammer crushers. This is followed by homogenisation and blending of the ore with lime and lignite to prepare it for processing. The blended materials are then placed in the rotary kilns, where reduction and calcination takes place. From the rotary kilns, the ore is moved into the electric reduction furnaces, where approximately 50% of the sulphur in the iron/nickel alloy is removed. The remaining sulphur is removed from the liquid metal in the oxygen converters, and the iron/nickel alloy is then cast into ingots.