Amid government mediation, Greek state-controlled electricity provider Public Power Corp. SA, or PPC, will supply Europe's largest nickel producer Larco SA until Jan. 11, extending the previous Jan. 1 deadline to cut off power supplies, Reuters reported Dec. 31, 2018.

Majority-owned by the Greek state and partially by PPC, Larco owes €280 million in unpaid electricity bills to the utility. PPC extended the deadline as a sign of goodwill as more talks are scheduled.

The government is working on a plan to avoid the shutdown of Larco by asking the company to lower its output to correspond to lower nickel prices and cut down wages.

Larco employs around 1,000 people in Greece. It produced 21,800 tonnes of nickel in 2016, Reuters added, citing Refinitiv Eikon data.