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Harsco Inks New Minerals Contract with Slovenia’s Acroni
Aug. 9, 2010 Harsco Corp. is expanding into Slovenia under a new five-year Harsco Minerals contract with the Acroni d.o.o. steel mill, Slovenia’s largest steelmaking operation.
Under the new contract, which is expected to generate more than $25 million in new revenues over its duration, Harsco will assume responsibility for processing and commercializing Acroni’s stainless steel slag co-products. Acroni, which has made substantial investments in recent years to expand its market position in heavy stainless steel plates, is currently considering plans to increase its stainless steel production even further.
In addition to recovering metal content from the slag, Harsco will also take responsibility for the residual slag material. The company expects to sell the recovered metal for re-use in steel production or through its cooperative partners in this region, such as Scholz AG. Harsco will also assume responsibility for processing the mill’s stockpiled slag, which estimated to be in the area of 300,000 tonnes of material. The Slovenian Ministry of the Environment classifies slag as an inert material and includes it on the country’s “green list” for environmentally sustainable commercial utilization.
Work under the contract is scheduled to begin in the latter half of this year, and will include the construction of an onsite slag processing and metal recovery facility that will be owned and operated by Harsco.
“This further expansion of our Harsco Minerals business model reaffirms the global scalability of our environmental solutions for steel and metals by-products,” said Harsco Minerals President Gene Iannazzo, in announcing the award. “No one has the expertise or global reach of Harsco in this area. We are very proud to have this opportunity to become associated with the Acroni steelworks and contribute to its long term success.”
The contract expands Harsco’s footprint into a strong European Union member country with links to both Western and Eastern Europe, reflecting Harsco’s strategies for further international expansion into the world’s emerging market economies. Slovenia was the first republic of the former Yugoslavia to become independent in the early 1990s and has benefited economically from its early integration into the European community, posting steady GDP growth throughout most of the past decade.
Acroni ranks as Europe’s fifth largest manufacturer of finished electrical sheet steel and its third largest producer of heavy stainless steel plates, a product sector where the mill has made substantial investments in recent years to expand its market position. Acroni exports approximately 70% of its production throughout the EU as well as to the U.S. and China.
Harsco, one of the world’s leading diversified industrial services and engineered products companies, serves key industries that play a fundamental role in worldwide economic growth.