Hydro Aluminum Metal Products - North America, a division of Norsk Hydro, officially opened the first remelt plant of its kind in the United States.
According to the company Hydro’s Kentucky remelting plant will be the first in the United States to use the Hydro technology to recycle aluminum scrap into primary quality billet. The plant has a capacity of 90,000metric tons a year. Additionally, the plant will use less than 5 percent of the energy consumed in smelter primary aluminum production. Hydro invested $33million in constructing the Henderson plant.
``The importance of maintaining energy costs is not only good for Hydro, but for our customers. Maintaining adequate supplies of primary quality aluminum billet is a priority and this remelter fills a gap,’ commented Jim Walters, president, Hydro Aluminum Metal Products, NA. ``We intend to expand our remelter capacity in the U.S. and are considering investments in Southwest United States.''
Presently Hydro remelt plants in Europe produce more than 250,000 tons of primary quality aluminum a year.
``Even with the power shortages striking the Northwest of the United States causing reduced production in many aluminum companies, Hydro is able to honor its commitments to customers and continue to expand globally because of this remelt technology,'' said Lars Narvestad, vice president of Remelting Worldwide and senior vice president of Hydro Aluminum Metal Products, NA.
Scrap is procured, through tolling agreements with customers, from purchases with customers and from buying scrap on the open market. This scrap is then remelted and then converted to billet for customer use. This is a win win situation for all involved.
Since 1986, Norsk Hydro has been supplying aluminum to customers in the United States. In Louisville, Kentucky, Hydro Aluminum Metal Products - North America handles sales from the tolling agreement with Goldendale Aluminum Company, in the State of Washington. The Louisville office also operates Hydro's extensive trading activities in the United States, another source of supply. The Henderson recycling plant, which broke ground in August of 1999 and began construction in November 1999, marks the first equity investment HAMP has made in an aluminum production facility in North America.
``Henderson is a great location because it is in the heart of the U.S. aluminum market. However, most importantly, the Henderson plant provides the platform to facilitate future expansion into North America,'' says Truls Gautesen, divisional President of Hydro Aluminum Metal Products. ``We have already substantially increased our remelt presence in the mid-western United States. Through the acquisition of Wells Aluminum, Hydro has taken over a remelt facility in Monett, Mo, which brings Hydro's remelting capacity to more than 175,000 tons in the Midwest alone.''