Sep 17 2008
Ausmelt Limited (AET) has signed a Licence Agreement with KCM SA for a new Ausmelt technology furnace at its lead production facilities at Plovdiv in Bulgaria.
Ausmelt and KCM SA have also agreed the main terms and conditions applicable for the subsequent detail engineering, core equipment supply and commissioning services.
Ausmelt has signed a sub-contractor agreement for the basic engineering stage of the project with WorleyParsons Services Pty Ltd. KCM SA is the leading producer of zinc and lead in Bulgaria and is seeking to modernise and expand its lead smelting operations. The new Ausmelt furnace will recover lead bullion from a mixture of lead concentrates, battery scrap and lead residues and will replace the existing sinter plant and blast furnace.
Ausmelt technology is being implemented to meet stringent EU environmental standards and is expected to deliver operating cost savings. The capacity of the facility will be sufficient to allow for the production of approximately 65,000 tonnes per year of refined lead.
Ausmelt’s Managing Director, Mr Paul Abbott, said today: “We are very pleased to have won this project in Bulgaria. It will provide another good reference site for Ausmelt technology in the European market.
“The plant modernisation is largely driven by an environmental imperative and reinforces the technical superiority of TSL technology for processing both primary and secondary lead materials.
“This latest contract increases the value of work in hand to more than A$45 million and brings the total number of current TSL projects to 13, with project work being undertaken in China, SE Asia, Bulgaria, Bolivia, Brazil and Russia for nickel, copper, tin and lead.”