Asarco to suspend Tennessee zinc operations

Asarco, a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, says it plans to indefinitely suspend zinc mining and processing operations at its Tennessee Mines division by mid-November owing to low zinc prices.

After weighing the options of a complete suspension of output to partial curtailment to no action at all, Asarco informed employees and union officials of the suspension decision on Monday.

The suspension will be phased in over the next several weeks, and will see a reduction of about 360 positions at the company’s three zinc operations in Jefferson County in eastern Tennessee. A skeleton crew will remain onsite for care and maintenance and to continue processing agricultural lime from existing zinc production byproducts.

Asarco issued worker adjustment and retraining notification statements to employees at the mines in late September. The company will assist eligible employees in securing all available federal and state unemployment and training benefits.

Asarco’s president Genaro Larrea said, “The slowdown in the industrial manufacturing sector, and in steel in particular, has resulted in higher worldwide zinc inventories and lower prices. At these prices, the Tennessee facilities simply are not economically viable.”

At the close of trading on October 23, the cash price of zinc on the London Metal Exchange was US34 per lb. A year earlier the metal was trading at US48 per lb.

During 2000, the Tennessee Mines division produced 56,800 tonnes of zinc-in-concentrate. Cash costs at the mines are estimated at US48 per lb.

The company says that operations could resume if long-term market conditions improve.

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