Karabashmed, a part of the Russian Copper Company, has celebrated the 20-years anniversary of creation and resumption of manufacture.
Karabash Copper-Smelting Works was created in 1910. It was one of the main suppliers of copper for the Russian industry, military in particular. But for almost 100 years the company has been operating without gas-purifying systems, and from 1933 till 1957 without tail ponds. Thus, by the late 1980 the environment impact was so critical, that in 1989 it was decided to shut down the manufacture.
In 1998 the decision was taken to resume metal manufacture, and a new company was created – Karabashmed. The company had one mine furnace and one converter.
Since then RCC has invested over 18 billion rubles in the company modernization, with 2 billion rubles to be invested this year. Pollution decreased 20-fold compared to 2000. (Ukrainian metal)