Apartado 178
33400 Avilés, Asturias
Spain

1957 - Asturiana De Zinc was incorporated on 8th October in San Juan de Nieva, Castrillón, Asturias, as a Spanish company.  Part of the Banesto Industrial Group.
1997 - Glencore International acquires 44.41% of the company
2001 - Xstrata AG acquires 100% of the company
2002 - Asturiana de Zinc acquires the electrolytic zinc plant in Nordenham (Germany) belonging to Metaleurop, S.A.

www.azsa.es
www.xstrata.com

Hg Removal (Asturiana Technology)
Acid Plant Project: July 1999 - May 2001, 22 months

2001 - 2 new storage tanks added - 10000 MT and 15000 MT
Acid Pipeline: 1200 m from acid plant to storage

The electrolytic zinc plant is located in San Juan de Nieva, in the municipality of Castrillon, Asturias, in the immediate vicinity of the Port of Avilés, an excellent location for the company to develop its commercial activity.  Construction work on this plant started in 1958 and was completed in a record time of 22 months. Start-up of the facility took place was in February 1960.  On 5th March 1960 the first electrolytic zinc ever refined in Spain, came out of the San Juan de Nieva line.

- Since then ASTURIANA DE ZINC has continuously increased production capacity gradually from the initial 12,628 to the current 460,000, always using own technology in most processes. The same technology that the business unit AdZ Tecnología markets worldwide.
- In May 1999 the Board of Directors approved the investment of 168 million euros to expand capacity by 120,000 tons to 460,000 tons. An increase of 35% over the previous 340,000 tons capacity which strengthened ASTURIANA DE ZINC's position as one of the World's largest producers and made San Juan de Nieva the largest and most effective plant in the World.
- In July 2001, five months ahead of schedule, the new production was commisioned and production jumped from 340,000 tons to 460,000 tons. Expansion works were also used to revamp and modernize existing equipments.

The San Juan de Nieva plant produces:
- Metals: electrolytic zinc, copper sponge, cadmium sponge,mercury.
- Zinc alloys for pressure smelting, gravity casting, continuous galvanising, zinc electrocoating, cathodic protection and rolling.
- Chemicals: Sulphuric acid, zinc dust, germanium dioxide, copper sulphate.