Displaying items by tag: US

Oman: Jindal Shadeed Iron and Steel (JSIS) has renewed its contract with US-based Harsco Corporation. Harsco Environmental will continue to provide slag management and metal recovery as well as skull processing services for JSIS for a five year period. JSIS has a steel production capacity of 2.4Mt/yr and it sells its products in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, China, Canada, Australia and parts of Europe.

“Using Harsco Environmental’s services to manage our slag benefits us in many ways,” said Sanjay Anand, chief operating officer and head of JSIS in Oman. “We are able to reduce our carbon footprint while increasing our production. Thanks to Harsco Environmental’s operational know-how, safety record and continuous support, JSIS can trust that each service provided is being done with the highest level of care.”

US: Montana Environmental Trust Group says that it has awarded a contract for the haulage of 2Mt of zinc slag from the East Helena slagheap in Montanato New York-based Metallica Commodities Corporation. Montana Environmental Trust Group said that Metallica Commodities Corporation will convey 20,000t/month of slag by rail to Vancouver for export. The volume corresponds to 14% of a 14Mt supply contract with a South Korea-based zinc smelting company.

US: Harsco Environmental has extended its slag management contract with Arkansas Steel Associates. The new agreement extends Harsco Environmental’s previous seven-year relationship for another seven years to around 2028, covering slag and scrap management, slag processing, metal recovery and refractory services. ASA, based at Newport in Arkansas, is a supplier of tie plates to the North American railway industry.

US: Workers have shipped the first load of slag extracted from the East Helena slag heap in Montana. KXLH Helena has reported that South Korea-based Korea Zinc Company has bought the 2.0Mt slag heap from the site of the former ASARCO foundry. The company plans to extract zinc and other metals from the slag before using the remainder in cement production. It was originally created as a by-product of lead production at the site.

US: Harsco Corporation recorded net sales of US$1.85bn in 2020, up by 23% year-on-year from Euro1.50bn in 2019. The group’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 10% to US$238m from US$265m. Harsco Environmental’s fourth quarter net sales rose by 2% to US$246m from US$243m. Its adjusted EBITDA rose by under 1% to US$52.0m from US$51.0m. The company attributed the division’s growth to higher demand for applied products and lower general and administrative spending, partially offset by a less favourable services mix and contract changes.

Chairman and chief executive officer Nick Grasberger said, “Against a challenging market backdrop in 2020, Harsco made significant progress on its strategic, operational and financial objectives. While the disruption caused by the global pandemic could not have been predicted, our teams executed well, with a consistent focus on our key priorities – operating safely, serving customers, preserving financial flexibility and executing our Environmental Solutions business from Stericycle (ESOL) integration and operational recovery plan in Rail.”

US: The US Department of Energy has awarded a grant of US$1.5m to a combined industry and academic team led by Cornell University’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The team will research uses of slag and other waste products from steel production. The study aims to investigate the overall material efficiency of steel production in order to reduce waste. It will explore several avenues, including the use of recovered silica for heavy metals capture at industrial plants and the synthesis of calcium carbonate from slag for use in steel production. Additionally, the team hopes to produce useable iron oxide from the by-products.

Assistant professor Greeshma Gadikota said, “This exciting project directly addresses our societal mission of meeting our resource needs in an environmentally sustainable manner. Iron and steel use is ubiquitous in our infrastructure.” She added that the study is “A unique opportunity to engage and train our students in developing innovative technologies that are central to our ability to live.” The study’s title is ‘Integrated reuse and co-utilisation of slag, sludge and dust with inherent heavy metal capture and nanoscale calcium carbonate production as an enhanced fluxing agent in steel plants.’

World: Global steel production was 1.86Bnt in 2020, down by 1% year-on-year from 1.88Bn in 2019. The decrease is the first since 2015. The sharpest declines were recorded in the US (17%), Japan (16%), the EU (12%) and India (11%). Chinese steel production rose for a sixth consecutive year to 1.05Bnt, up by 5% from 1.00Bnt. The rest of the world produced 811Mt, down by 8% from 879Mt. China’s share of world steel production rose to 57% from 53%.

Canada: Carbicrete has secured US$1.5m in funding from US-based SQN Venture Partners (SQNVP). The funds will finance research and development activities at its new Lachine laboratory, as well as operations at its Drummondville pilot plant in Quebec. It said that this brings its total funding received from major investors in 2020 to US$8m with investment already agreed from Harsco Environmental, the Quebec Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC). The technology company is developing concrete products made with steel slag for the construction industry.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Chris Stern said, “This venture debt cash injection following our equity financing further underlines the thesis that the financial markets are believing in value-added, carbon-negative technologies such as CarbiCrete that mitigate CO₂ in our atmosphere. We are proud to have SQNVP as an investor in our company.”

US: CRH subsidiary Ash Grove Cement says that it is undertaking an upgrade of its Port Manatee, Florida deep water cement terminal to install a high capacity FLSmidth Kovako unloader and modernise existing material transfer and electrical systems, as well as establishing self-loading capabilities. The aim of the upgrade is “to improve Ash Grove’s capacity to import cement clinker, slag and fly ash to meet the existing and future needs of customers in the Florida and South Georgia markets.

Regional president Monica Manolas said, “The underlying fundamentals in the Florida market are positive with good population and employment growth. The upgrade of the Port Manatee import terminal will expand our capabilities and strengthen our ability to meet growing demand in the region.”

The company says that construction will begin in early 2021 and the upgraded terminal will open in late 2021.

Belgium: The World Steel Association says that global steel production in the first half of 2020 was 873Mt, down by 6% year-on-year from 929Mt. Global June 2020 steel production also fell, by 7% year-on-year to 148Mt from 159Mt in June 2019 and by 0.7% month-on-month from 149Mt in May 2020. China produced 91.6Mt in June 2020, up by 4.5% from 87.7Mt, corresponding to 62% of global steel production for the month. The sharpest falls occurred in the US, by 35% to 4.7Mt from 7.2Mt, and in France, by 35% to 800,000t from 1.23Mt.