Hydro to build remelt plant in Texas

(Sep. 26, 2001) Hydro Aluminium Metal Products will build a 90,000 tonnes-per-year aluminum recycling plant in Commerce, Texas, that should be operational by November 2002.

Hydro plans to invest $37 million in the construction, which will begin as soon as negotiations are completed with gas and electric utilities, the company says in a statement.

The Commerce plant will use the same state-of-the-art technology employed at Hydro's first U.S. remelt plant in Henderson, Kentucky, which opened in May 2001.

The technology, originally developed at its European recycling plants, allows Hydro to produce primary-quality aluminum billet from scrap using five percent of the energy consumed in typical primary aluminum production.

"When we announced the first remelt plant in Henderson, it was part of a commitment we made to expand our remelt capacity in the United States in order to increase the supply of primary quality billet in a market that is not producing enough aluminium to meet expected demands," said Jim Walters, president of Hydro Aluminum in North America.

"Eight years ago, Hydro's effort to improve the operational and technical quality of recycling became a core business. Now, Hydro is a leader in this remelt technology," commented Lars Narvestad, Senior Vice President of Hydro Aluminijm Products-NA. "As a result of this technology we have increased our aluminum remelting 10-fold. Today, one out of three tons af aluminum Hydro sells has been remelted."

The new facility will boost Hydro's annualized remelt capacity substantially. Through the acquisition of Wells Aluminum Hydro got access to its remelt facility in Monett, Missouri, making Hydro's current remelt capacity in the United States over 175,000 metric tons annually. Hydro also operates Pianmeca, a company in Venezuela, supplying aluminum cast house products to the US market.

Hydro has chosen to build the plant in Commerce in order to better serve the demand of the Southwestern aluminum market. Customers will be from the transportation and building and construction sectors.

The closing of the property in Commerce will not occur until negotations are completed with power utilities, but recruiting for management positions at the Texas plant has already started.