Horsehold Holding LLC, the largest US zinc producer, is working to restart the long-idled Mooresboro zinc plant in North Carolina, an official with the company said Monday.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said it is uncertain if the plant will resume production before the end of 2017.
But the official confirmed that an eventual Mooresboro restart is the goal of the Pittsburgh-based company, then known as Horsehead Holding Corp. when it filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy reorganization February 2, 2016, in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Judge Christopher Sontchi confirmed Horsehead's Chapter 11 plan September 9, 2016.
During the company's seven-month stay in bankruptcy, substantially all of Horsehead's long-term debt was wiped out, with about $205 million in secured debt converted to equity in a newly named company, Horsehead Holding LLC.
Moorseboro, a state-of-the-art solvent-extraction/electrowinning facility that cost about $500 million to build, was shuttered in the days preceding the bankruptcy filing.
The plant suffered from technical issues almost since its inception and produced only 4,100 mt of zinc in the second quarter of 2015, with output rising to 9,700 mt in third-quarter 2015.
Company officials have estimated it could cost about $117 million to bring the plant to its full nameplate capacity of 155,000 mt/year.
Horsehead is an integrated producer of zinc, zinc oxide and zinc powder from recycled sources. The company says it annually recycles thousands of metric tons of zinc containing electric arc furnace dust and secondary material, batteries, nickel-bearing waste and other metals.
Horsehead's properties also include a zinc powder facility in Palmerton, Pennsylvania; and four recycling facilities in Barnwell, South Carolina; Calumet, Illinois; Rockwood, Tennessee; and Palmerton.
The company's Inmetco subsidiary in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, annually recycles thousands of tons of nickel, chromium, iron and cadmium bearing wastes.
Horsehead's Canadian subsidiary, Zochem, in Brampton, Ontario, is the largest producer of high-quality zinc oxide in North America. The plant produces all grades of zinc oxide for various industries.
