Horsehead to Expand Zinc Oxide Capacity at Canadian Smelter

The zinc producer Horsehead Corp. has announced it is in process of adding additional zinc oxide production capacity at its Zochem Inc. facility in Brampton, Ontario. When complete, the facility will see its capacity grow to 72,000 tons per year. The expansion is in advance of Horsehead’s planned idling of the refining columns operated by its Horsehead Corp.’s 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,” says Jim Hensler, Horsehead president and CEO.

“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 about $15 million.