Inco Ltd has confirmed that it has been in discussions with the Ontario (Canada) Ministry of the Environment (MOE) on a programme to comply with a draft control order for emissions at the
company’s Sudbury Ontario smelting operations. Inco has proposed a CAD 100 million investment in fluid bed roaster (FBR) off-gas scrubbing technology that will further reduce SO2
emissions at the plant by 34%, from the current limit of 265 kilotonnes to 175 kilotonnes annually, by the end of 2006. The FBR technology would have the added benefit of decreasing total metal emissions of nickel, copper, arsenic and lead by 80 to 100 tonnes per year. With this latest improvement, the smelter will have cut total metal emissions by 80% since it began its reduction program in 1988. In addition to the FBR investment, the company has proposed to take
immediate steps to comply with Ontario government standards for SO2 Ground Level Concentrations (GLCs) that will become effective in April 2002.
