Local media reported that the Greek state is in search of a strategic partner for the state controlled nickel producer Larco. The company produces nickel, electric furnace slag and aggregates.

Larco owns four mines in Evia and Agios Ioannis in south Greece and Kastoria as well as a lignite mine at Servia in northern Greece. Larco also owns a smelting plant in Larymna about 130 kilometers northeast of Athens.

The annual production of the Evia mines is 1.2 to 1.5 million tonnes of ore. Agios Ioannis mines’ annual production is 700,000 tonnes of ore, from which about 60,000 tonnes of high nickel grade ore. The annual production in Kastoria mines is 250,000 to 300,000 tonnes of high nickel grade ore. The annual production of the Servia mine is approximately 250,000 tonnes of lignite. The total quantity of ore processed per year is 2.5 million tonnes, producing an annual ferronickel production of around 18,000 to 20,000 tonnes.

In 2002 the company signed a contract with Lafarge, under which it provides the French cement company with nickel. In early 2007, the company created a joint venture with GEMACO and Latomia Stilidas for the exploitation of overburden material and the development of a new, expanded sales network in the Greek market.