Nyrstar’s Auby smelter to resume zinc output at reduced rate

LONDON (Reuters) – Nyrstar’s Auby zinc operations in northern France will resume production at reduced capacity over coming weeks after being placed on care and maintenance in January in response to high power prices, the Belgium-listed company said.

Production cuts in Europe, worries about supplies and shortages pushed zinc prices on the London Metal Exchange to a record high of $4,896 a tonne earlier this month.

“The restart of Auby allows Nyrstar greater flexibility to efficiently manage the group’s production across its three European sites, with anticipated total production cuts of up to 50%”, Nyrstar said.

“Electricity prices across Europe remain at historically high levels meaning it is not economically feasible to operate any of our sites at full capacity.”

Last October, Nyrstar cut production by up to 50% at its three European zinc smelters – Budel in the Netherlands and Balen in Belgium as well as Auby – due to the soaring price of electricity.

Metal industry sources say Nyrstar has the capacity to produce 720,000 tonnes of zinc in Europe, with 300,000 of that at Budel.

Europe accounts for around 15% of global supplies of zinc estimated at about 14 million tonnes this year.

(Reporting by Pratima Desai and Zandi Shabalala; Editing by David Holmes)