Sep 2 2010
Horsehead Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: ZINC) today provided an update on efforts aimed at restarting operations at its Monaca, PA refining facility.
The Monaca plant's zinc oxide and metal refinery remains temporarily shutdown. This shutdown commenced immediately following the July 22, 2010 incident at the plant. Teams from the U.S. Occupational, Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the U.S. Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) and Horsehead continue their separate investigations into the cause and the circumstances that may have contributed to the occurrence of this incident. Horsehead is cooperating fully with these investigations, and is collaborating with these agencies and the United Steelworkers.
It is believed that this incident was caused by liquid zinc escaping into the much hotter combustion chamber surrounding the distillation column. The liquid zinc then vaporized and expanded rapidly, breaching the column wall and combusting upon reaching the atmosphere.
Horsehead plans to implement certain preventive and protective enhancements to the Monaca refinery based on results of the investigations to date. Horsehead's decision to move ahead on these enhancements is consistent with its continuing commitment to the safety of its employees, contractors and visitors. Enhancements will be made to the design of the columns and operating procedures to minimize the risk of a reoccurrence. In addition, an alarm system will be installed and barriers will be constructed around the columns to further protect employees.
Regarding zinc oxide production, Horsehead currently expects to restart all four Larvik furnaces by the end of September. Horsehead expects to restart the zinc oxide and refined zinc metal columns in stages starting in November. Assuming the planned rebuilding is completed on schedule, Horsehead anticipates it will be able to bring its production of zinc oxide and refined zinc metal to pre-incident levels by January, 2011. The Company plans to keep all employees at the Monaca facility on the payroll throughout the rebuilding schedule.
"Our investigation has progressed to the point that we are now focusing on resuming operations," said Horsehead President & CEO Jim Hensler, "Through the collaborative efforts of our independent experts and our workforce we will be implementing several safety enhancements to the refinery plant. We appreciate the support of our customers during this difficult period and look forward to servicing them once again in the near future."