Brazil's Vale (NYSE:VALE) on Thursday announced it will shutter its nickel smelting and refining operations in Canada's Manitoba province in 2018.
The operations were originally set to end this year, but the government stepped in to extend work for at least another three years reports Reuters.
Mining and milling at the Thompson mine will continue and the Rio de Janeiro-based company said it will finish a feasibility study to expand the mine early in 2016, but won't advance the project beyond this stage until prices recover.
Vale, the world's largest iron ore and nickel producer, has been hit by a fall in the price of both commodities.
Iron ore fell to a close to a decade low of just over $45 a tonne on Thursday while nickel has weakened to below $9,000 a tonne, the lowest since 2008.