Oct 16 2003
In a bid to restore the profitability and long term viability of their Horne Smelter, Noranda have announced a restructuring plan.
The plan involves drastically reducing the smelters output between now and June 2004. Feed volume will be reduced from 840,000 tonnes per year to 650,000 tonnes per year over this period, while anode production will drop by about 20% from 186,000 tonnes per year. Staff levels will also be reduced by about one third in line with the reduced production levels.
The reduced production will involve cutting out processing of low margin materials. However, they plan to increase their recycling activities.
Factors that have lead to the restructuring include increased competition include increased competition in the copper concentrate market from Asian countries in particular China, a strengthening of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar and an increase in demand for more expensive imported feed materials.
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