AZR Schedules Production Restart at North Carolina Plant
AZR expects the plant to reach its full capacity of 155,000 tons per annum production by the end of next year.
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Pittsburgh-based American Zinc Recycling Corp. announced plans to restart operations at its Mooresboro, North Carolina plant. The press release issued by the company states that the plant operations will be restarted either at end-March or early-April in 2019. It must be noted that the plant has been idled to deal with certain design and equipment related issues.
Over the years, the company cited significant deterioration in quality of zinc produced at the facility, due to increased presence of contaminants. Following this, AZR had decided to redesign certain elements of the plant. Consequently, the company invested nearly $100 million in replacing existing machinery with new ones. The company was assisted by Europe-based metals company Glencore AG. Gary Whitaker, vice president, general counsel and secretary at AZR announced that all previous problems have been resolved and the plant is expected to come online as scheduled.
Whitaker stated that AZR expects the plant to reach its full capacity of 155,000 tons per annum production by the end of next year. The company intends to convert this plant as one of the world’s best zinc smelters in the long-term, he added.
The Mooresboro plant manufactures SHG grade pure zinc metal from waelz oxide using a solvent extraction and electrowinning process. The metal thus produced is resold to steel companies.