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Fire at Cominco's Trail operations to lower output

TRAIL, BRITISH COLUMBIA: Zinc output is expected to be reduced at Cominco Ltd's Trail, British Columbia operations after an early morning fire on Sunday caused extensive damage to one of its buildings, the company said.

It estimated that zinc output at the Trail facility in British Columbia's interior, 640 kilometres (400 miles) east of Vancouver, B.C., would be cut by 7,000 tonnes over the next six weeks due to the fire and a scheduled maintenance shutdown in May.

The Canadian base metals producer said in a release that a fire in a baghouse next to its Kivcet Lead Furnace and No. 3 Slag Fuming Furnace area caused extensive damage to the building.

The baghouse is used to collect zinc fume dust from the No. 3 slag fuming furnace. Slag fume is a key source of zinc.

In 1999, the Trail facility produced 288,700 tonnes of zinc.

Although damage was confined to the immediate area of the baghouse, the company was forced to shut down smelter and slag fuming operations. The Kivcet furnace was expected to resume operations later on Sunday night.

No employees were injured in the fire.

The company said an estimate of the damage and the time required for the repairs would not be available until a full investigation into the extent of the damage and cause of the fire and explosion in a ventilation fan was completed.

The company could not be reached for further comments.-Reuters