Reuters reported that BHP Billiton production at its Kwinana nickel refinery in Western Australia had restarted as planned in early June.

A spokesman said that in line with our previous guidance, production at Kwinana resumed in early June. The plant which has the capacity to produce around 70,000 tonnes a year of refined nickel was closed in late May due to a shortage of hydrogen supplies from a third party. Any significant impact on output will be reported in our quarterly Production Report.

According to Reuters Metal Production Database, last year Kwinana produced around 44,000 tonnes of metal down from 66,000 the previous year. Production at the plant previously was halted in March 2010 because of a hydrogen shortage and last December by a lack of nitrogen gas. Both hydrogen and nitrogen are key ingredients in the nickel refining process.

(Sourced from Reuters)