In the largest and most impressive ceremony in Company history, the groundbreaking for Harsco Corporation new joint venture slag utilization project with leading Chinese steelmaker TISCO was celebrated this week in Shanxi Province, China.
The ceremony attended by more than 1,000 guests and covered extensively by Chinese media featured presentations from senior Chinese government officials and US Ambassador to China Gary Locke.
Mr Salvatore Fazzolari Harsco Chairman, President and CEO said "Today we are here to symbolically plant the seed from which will grow a great partnership. Our two great companies are joining to build a strong alliance that not only protects the environment but also advances technology and global best practices. This will be the largest and most significant program of its type anywhere in the world."
Under its previously announced 25 year environmental solutions contract, the largest contract in Company history, Harsco will apply its proprietary separation technologies to extract high-value metallic content from TISCO steelmaking slag for production re-use. In parallel, Harsco will also develop commercial market opportunities throughout China for utilizing slag co-products to revitalize potentially thousands of acres of prime agricultural croplands and contribute to a broad range of industrial applications.
In his remarks, Ambassador Mr Locke praised Harsco and TISCO for working together to address business interests in combination with a healthier and more sustainable environment. "This type of cooperation between companies from the US and China is proof that environmental stewardship is a job-creating enterprise, one that will reap benefits in both of our countries. Shanxi Province Governor Mr Wang, Jun added that the project is the province largest involving an American company with a focus on building a green Shanxi.
As previously announced, the Harsco-TISCO partnership has the potential to generate new revenues of an estimated USD 30 million in its first full year of operation ramping up to a projected run rate of approximately USD 50 million to USD 60 million per year when fully operational (2015). Harsco anticipates that the metal recovery operations will begin in late 2012 and market development for the agricultural fertilizer and other commercial by-products will proceed in parallel with an estimated start date of 2014. When fully operational, the project is expected to utilize 100% of the steel slag generated by TISCO and have zero discharge, thereby eliminating the need for the material's industrial landfill.
Mr Li Xiaobo TISCO Chairman said "It has always been the goal of TISCO to develop itself into a truly green and model steel mill. The close cooperation between TISCO and Harsco is a most important step towards this goal. Harsco's advanced technology and expertise gives much needed and valuable support to the success of the project."
