Chemetco Inc., a 31-year-old copper smelting operation facing millions of dollars in fines for environmental crimes and numerous lawsuits from neighboring property owners, closed its doors.
Company officials announced plans to close the plant on Oct. 31 the beginning of the week.
According to the Alton (Ill.) Telegraph, the company stopped receiving raw material at the gate and has begun closing its warehouses around the country.
There have been reports that Chemetco would file for bankruptcy protection, although it is looking to sell some of its lead and copper slag.
Last year, a judge in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis fined Chemetco more than $3.8 million for using a secret pipeline to contaminate Long Lake, the drainage area that filters into the Mississippi River from the area surrounding the plant. That pipeline was installed in 1986 and disconnected in 1996.
The plant had been producing 300 tons of copper each day, but recently that production was cut back to about 150 tons. The copper market has been down, and Chemetco's main customer, Asarco Inc. of Texas, had stopped buying copper.
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