SOCIETE POUR LE TRAITEMENT DU TERRIL DE LUBUMBASHI (STL)
Lubumbashi, D.R.Congo. Thursday, February 11, 2010.
STL Press release : Side Walls Relining
SOCIETE POUR LE TRAITEMENT DU TERRIL DE LUBUMBASHI (STL – the Company) announces that it is moving forward with the relining of the side walls of its electrical arc furnace. The activities of the Company will therefore be temporarily interrupted for six to eight weeks. The Company is expected to resume production in April or May 2010.
This side wall relining was planned and occurs in accordance with the previous decision of the Board of the Company and the three shareholders (OMG, FORREST Group and GÉCAMINES). This is a normal maintenance activity that must be performed several times throughout the lifetime of an electrical furnace.
The current lining lasted approximately five years, an exceptional lifetime considering the productivity and the output of the furnace. The work which is underway should also enable STL to further improve cooling rates and reliability.
STL produced 4,590 tons of cobalt in 2009, 5,545 tons in 2008 and 5,593 tons in 2007. The Company also produces around 3,000 tons of copper a year and through the processing of the furnace gases, more than 20,000 tons of zinc oxide.
STL is one of the main sources of income for several Congolese state companies such as the Gécamines and the SNEL. The Company also supports the implementation and contributes to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in the D.R.Congo.
On behalf of SOCIETE POUR LE TRAITEMENT DU TERRIL DE LUBUMBASHI (STL),
