Crisis hits EAF dust recyclers

Archiv – Zincrecyclers, like other companies that deal in the base metal, have been hit hard by flagging demand and battered prices, but have also seen the source of their raw material, electric arc furnace dust, drop off sharply with steel mill production Global | Zinc recyclers, like other companies that deal in the base metal, have been hit hard by flagging demand and battered prices, but have also seen the source of their raw material, electric arc furnace dust, drop off sharply with steel mill production hovering at around 43.5%% capacity.
Recyclers have shelved indefinitely plans to build new plants and are meanwhile scrambling to secure new sources of electric arc furnace dust to ensure a steady stream of the dust for their existing facilities. The steel slump has prompted Steel Dust Recycling to put on hold its JV with Mexico based Zinc Nacional to build a 100,000 tonnes facility in central Texas.
Russ Robinson president of Steel Dust Recycling said that “The proposed venture is predicated on the steel mills returning to a more normal state of production. If the steel mills are at 100% production, there’s plenty of steel dust in the multi-state area of Texas to supply the plants and probably even at 70% or 60% of capacity, that’s true. But at today’s level, that’s not true.”
He said that while still in the nascent planning stages, SDR’s deal with the Mexican recycler calls for a 50:50 investment of USD 30 to USD 40 million with other issues, including which company will operate the new plant still to be worked out. He added that “What we are embarked on is the planning and the site location what kind of plant we want, how big, government incentives. We’re at the very beginning of the process.”
Mr Robinson said that but the companies’ timeline is very much tied to a dwindling source of raw material. He added that “I think that the timing of the building of the plant will be to coincide with a recovery in the steel industry. We have broadened our base of suppliers in Alabama in order to work our way back up to full capacity.”
He said that finding new EAFD suppliers means adding steel mills that would normally ship the dust to landfills. He added that “The trend is away from land filling and toward recycling. To the extent the recyclers have to broaden their customer base to get more steel mill supplying them because of that slowdown, a lot of that material stops going to the landfills and starts going to the recyclers.”
He said that SDR is already in talks with steel mills in Texas to supply the new recycling plant, but would not disclose if the company had closed any contracts.