Ghana gives Valco extra time to close pot lines
ACCRA, March 1 (Reuters) - Ghana has given the Volta Aluminium Company (Valco) extra time to shut down two of the four operating pot lines at its 200,000-tonne per year capacity smelter, a minister said on Friday.
The company had contested a government order in mid-February to close the pot lines within 48 hours to avert a power crisis, saying a rushed shutdown would damage the pot lines and cause many of its 1,400 employees to be laid off.
The plant has been operating four of its five pot lines, running at an annual production rate of 160,000 tonnes.
"We've agreed to extend the time-set for Valco to shut some of its pot lines," Information Minister Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey told Reuters.
He could not specify when Valco would shut down the pot lines at its Tema smelter, but he said the company had agreed to the new time limit.
Valco officials could not be reached for immediate comment.
Pots are electrolytic cells arranged in lines which reduce alumina, an intermediate raw material derived from bauxite, to aluminium metal.
Valco had said it needed at least 30 days to shut down properly to prevent molten aluminium solidifying and damaging the installations.
The order to temporarily shut down the two pot lines was part of an energy rationing plan forced by a faulty turbine at the Akosombo dam, the West African country's main source of electricity.
Valco normally consumes around 60 percent of power from the dam and is now negotiating with the government on how much it should pay.
Valco's parent company, Houston-based Kaiser Aluminium , filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February but said the filing did not include the Valco smelter.