Jul 31 2012
Horsehead Corporation, a leading U.S. producer of zinc and zinc-based products, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Horsehead Holding Corp. (Nasdaq:ZINC), today announced that it is in the process of adding additional zinc oxide production capacity at its Zochem, Inc. facility in Brampton, Ontario.
Horsehead is undertaking this capacity expansion, expected to increase Zochem's capacity to 72,000 short tons per year, in anticipation of the eventual idling of the refining columns operated by its Horsehead Corporation subsidiary in Monaca, PA.
“As we continue to progress toward completion of our new state-of-the-art zinc smelter in North Carolina and shutting down the zinc refinery in Monaca, we are excited about the road ahead for our zinc oxide business”
"As we continue to progress toward completion of our new state-of-the-art zinc smelter in North Carolina and shutting down the zinc refinery in Monaca, we are excited about the road ahead for our zinc oxide business," said Jim Hensler, Horsehead's President & CEO. Hensler added, "While we believe the expansion of Zochem along with other publicly announced expansions in the industry will provide sufficient supply to satisfy customer demand in the North American market, we are evaluating both co-locating a zinc oxide facility at our North Carolina site and operating our Larvik furnaces, which are on stand-by at Monaca, based on market conditions." The cost of the Zochem expansion is expected to be approximately $15 million.
Horsehead anticipates having the additional capacity in place at Zochem prior to idling the Monaca facility and plans to source the new capacity from third party zinc metal suppliers or its own special high grade zinc metal from its new North Carolina facility.
About Horsehead
Horsehead Holding Corp. ("Horsehead") (Nasdaq: ZINC) is the parent company of Horsehead Corporation, a leading U.S. producer of specialty zinc and zinc-based products and a leading recycler of electric arc furnace dust; The International Metals Reclamation Company ("INMETCO"), a leading recycler of metals-bearing wastes and a leading processor of nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries in North America; and Zochem Inc., a zinc oxide producer located in Brampton, Ontario. Horsehead, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., employs approximately 1,150 people and currently has seven production and recycling facilities throughout the U.S. and Canada. Visit www.horsehead.net for more information.
Cautionary Statement about Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about business outlook, proposed initiatives and strategy, financial and performance targets and statements about historical results that may suggest trends for our business. These statements are based on assumptions, estimates and information available to us at the time of this press release and are not guarantees of future performance. There may be several factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including, among others, the impact of future market conditions on our results of operations, our future operating costs and production levels and our expansion plans and initiatives, our ability to achieve the benefits we expect to achieve from the new zinc plant once fully operational, the ultimate cost to construct the new plant, our ability to obtain environmental and regulatory permits and approvals, and the success and timing of our expansion plans and initiatives and their impact on our future capabilities, capacity, and production costs and financial results. Our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements. We can give no assurances that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if any of them does, what impact they will have on our results of operations and financial condition. You should carefully read the factors described in the "Risk Factors" section of our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a description of certain risks that could, among other things, cause our actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and we undertake no obligation to revise or update this earnings release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.