Reuters reported that finnish nickel miner Talvivaara postponed the restart of mining at its site in the east of the country by six months due to rain-related problems, raising fresh concerns over its future metals production.
One analyst said the company may face two flat years of nickel output, he added that "It may be that production would not increase very much next year and there is a risk it won't pick up even in 2014."
The Finnish company has been hit by a series of problems in the past year, including waste water leakage, production disruptions and the death of a worker.
Talvivaara halted mining and crushing operations at its Sotkamo mine in September for three to four months due to excess water and now says it will not restart operations until mid-2013, by which time the water should have been drained away.
Its chief executive said reducing the amount of water was a top priority as it was slowing metals extraction from stockpiles of ore estimated already to contain some 55,000 tonnes of nickel.
Mr Pekka Pera CEO told Reuters that "We cannot return to normal before we have sorted out the water problems."
He added the firm was seeking a permit to release some 2.5 million cubic metres of cleaned waste water before snow melts next spring. Talvivaara's annual quota for waste water is 1.3 million cubic metres.
