[digvalley]

> Malta og spiker next.” Loosely translated, he meant: “Malta next, then a furnace – somewhere.”

This should be something like "Malta, to become nails, next".

spiker = nails

[jon-v]

But what it's becoming isn't the point, the point of the loose translation is that the location of the furnace melting it down to become nails isn't specified in the original statement. The rest of the article implies it most likely went to Malta for resale and then somewhere else to become nails.