Harsco Expands Into Slovenia With New Minerals Contract Valued in Excess of $25 Million

Published on Friday, 06 August 2010 14:42 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 6, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Worldwide industrial services and engineered products company Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC) announced today its expansion into Slovenia under a new five-year Harsco Minerals contract expected to generate more than $25 million in new revenues over its duration.

The contract expands Harsco's footprint into a strong European Union member country with links to both Western and Eastern Europe, reflecting Harsco's strategies for further international expansion into the world's emerging market economies. Slovenia was the first republic of the former Yugoslavia to become independent in the early 1990s and has benefited economically from its early integration into the European community, posting steady GDP growth throughout most of the past decade. 

Harsco will assume responsibility for the processing and commercialization of stainless steel slag co-products produced by the Acroni d.o.o. steel mill,  Slovenia's largest steelmaking operation. Acroni ranks as Europe's fifth largest manufacturer of finished electrical sheet steel and its third largest producer of heavy stainless steel plates, a product sector where the mill has made substantial investments in recent years to expand its market position. The mill is currently considering plans to increase its stainless steel production even further. Acroni exports approximately 70% of its production throughout the EU as well as to the U.S. and China.

Harsco will apply its proven environmental solutions technologies to recover valuable metal content from the slag and will also take responsibility for the residual slag material. The Company expects to sell the recovered metal for re-use in steel production or through its cooperative partners with which the Company has relationships in this region, such as Scholz AG. Harsco will also assume responsibility for the processing of stockpiled slag at the mill, estimated to be in the area of 300,000 tons of material. Slag is classified by the Slovenian Ministry of the Environment as an inert material and is included on the country's "green list" for environmentally sustainable commercial utilization.

Announcing the award, Gene Iannazzo, president of Harsco Minerals, said, "This further expansion of our Harsco Minerals business model reaffirms the global scalability of our environmental solutions for steel and metals by-products. No one has the expertise or global reach of Harsco in this area. We are very proud to have this opportunity to become associated with the Acroni steelworks and contribute to its long term success."  

Work under the contract is scheduled to begin in the latter half of this year, and will include the construction of an onsite slag processing and metal recovery facility that will be owned and operated by Harsco.

Harsco Corporation is one of the world's leading diversified industrial services and engineered products companies, serving key industries that play a fundamental role in worldwide economic growth. Harsco's common stock is a component of the S&P MidCap 400 Index and the Russell 1000 Index. Additional information can be found at www.harsco.com. 

The Harsco Corporation logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=361

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