US copper producer Asarco's Hayden smelter in Arizona is operating again after the 720,000 mt/year facility was partially idled earlier this year for a pollution control project, a United Steelworkers union official said Friday.
"They're back to producing copper," Manny Armenta, USW subdistrict director in Albuquerque, New Mexico, told Platts in a Friday interview. "They've been fully operational in the last month. Asarco workers are back to doing their regular duties."
Armenta said the US Environmental Protection Agency required the Grupo Mexico subsidiary to carry out the pollution control project. The project is now completed, he said. Asarco officials could not be reached for comment.
But Grupo Mexico blamed the partial Hayden shutdown for a 6% decline in total copper sales for the first half of 2017. The company, in its recently released operating and financial report, said it produced 495,778 mt of copper in the first six months of this year.
At its three Asarco mines in Arizona -- Ray, Silver Bell and Mission -- production dropped 18% in the first half of 2017, added Grupo Mexico, which posted $801 million in net profit on $4.51 billion in sales during the period.
Grupo Mexico said molybdenum output dipped 2% to 10,679 mt in H1 2017 while zinc production slid 4% to 36,412 mt. Silver production also was down 2% to 81,156 oz, while gold output also dipped 2% to 32,703 oz.
Armenta said the USW is awaiting a response from Asarco to a new labor offer the union recently made in an attempt to resolve a more-than-four-year contract dispute between the two parties.
Although Armenta would not disclose details of the union's offer, he described it as "reasonable for both parties."
The previous collective bargaining agreement was scheduled to expire June 30, 2013, but the company and union mutually extended it until November 2015, which is when Asarco unilaterally implemented its "last, best and final" contract offer to the union.
The USW, the largest of several unions at Asarco, responded by filing an unfair labor practice charge against the company with the National Labor Relations Board. In all, unions represent about 2,000 hourly employees at the company's Arizona and Texas operations.
In addition to the Hayden smelter and three copper mines that together produce about 400 million pounds/year of copper, Asarco also operates a refinery in Amarillo, Texas, capable of producing 279.5 million pounds/year.
