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EBRD loan to Russia's No. 1 zinc smelter to boost environment
Funding will allow plant to cut mercury and sulphur oxyde emissions
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is providing a follow-up loan to the largest zinc smelter in the Russian Federation that will help it eliminate mercury emissions and drastically reduce emissions of sulphur oxydes.
The $12 million, six-year loan to the Chelyabinsk zinc smelter, the Bank's second in two years, will finance the construction of a mercury recovery plant and a sulphuric acid plant as part of the second phase of the smelter's modernisation.
These are some key health benefits of this modernisation project. Another major improvement will lead to the recycling of zinc cake thanks to a new Waelz kiln plant. Zinc cake is a by-product that will be now fully recycled in the production process. Waste residue from zinc processing will in future be reprocessed and turned into secondary raw materials that can be re-used on the spot or sold to third parties.
Under the EBRD environmental action plan accepted by the borrower, all the plant's processing units will comply with European Union as well as Russian environmental standards by 2005.
The EBRD values the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant's continued commitment to modernisation, its responsible attitude to the environment and the good standards of corporate governance and business conduct that it displays, said Dragica Pilipovic-Chaffey, director of the EBRD's Russia Team.
The EBRD's first investment was a six-year loan for $15 million in 2000 to finance the expansion of the smelter's capacity and help it refine zinc at a higher grade. The Chelyabinsk plant has an annual capacity of about 150,000 tonnes of zinc.
Located in the Urals industrial heartland of Russia, the Chelyabinsk smelter is close to its main clients, Russia's leading steel producers. Zinc is mainly used to galvanise metal for the machinery, construction and automotive industries. The coating of zinc that this gives prevents rusting.
The smelter is to benefit from an energy efficiency audit paid for by the Dutch government.
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