News of Norway, issue 4, 1996
The plant converts quartzite, a common mineral found as gravel and beach sand, into high-quality silicon metal used in aluminum, chemicals and electronics. Silicon is found in applications ranging from the caulking in bathrooms to the chips in home computers. As an alloy ingredient, silicon brings important properties to aluminum.
The Elkem silicon plant is a busy place. Raw materials and finished products continually arrive and leave by road, rail and barge. Over 40 railroad cars a week shunt in and out. Dozens of trucks arrive and leave every day. West Virginia's coal mines supply hundreds of tons of fuel a day to feed the power plant and augment the hydroelectric power used in the furnaces. Altogether the 165 megawatts of electricity generated for the plant equals the power needed to light the city of Charleston.
Elkem Alloy makes its silicon products with North Carolina quartzite. This is reduced by coke in an energy-intensive process to form silicon metal. As a biproduct, silica dust from the air coming off the furnaces is collected and sold as microsilica to cement producers who use it as a strengthener for concrete structures. What appears to be a crude industry is an essential contributor to the advancement of materials technology, a worldwide industry challenged by strict specifications and a competitive environment. The Elkem Alloy plant is one of over a dozen Elkem installations in North America and Europe that produce silicon and related ferroalloy products. Ferroalloys (rather like seasonings in food) when skillfully combined give special properties to iron and steel, including strength, ductility, hardness and corrosion resistance.
Elkem a/s, the parent Norwegian company, expanded into North America in the early 1980's. Today, Elkem has three plants in the United States and one in Canada. Elkem Ashtabula in Ohio is the only Elkem plant that produces calcium carbide.
When added to water, calcium carbide gives off acetylene gas. In the days before electric power, acetylene from calcium carbide was an important source of light in homes and industry. Today, calcium carbide is still used to generate acetylene, which is now used largely in welding and cutting operations. A rapidly growing new use of calcium carbide-as an economical deoxidizer and desulphurizer of steel and cast-iron is saving metals producers millions.
Marietta, Ohio, which was settled by Revolutionary War veterans in 1788, hosts another Elkem production plant that extends a mile along the Ohio River and employs some 600 people. The plant, built between 1949 and 1951, is one of the largest and the most diverse ferroalloy plants in the world. Producing a wide range of specialized products, the plant is the only producer in the U.S. and Canada of the ferromanganese products used by steelmakers to make every ton of steel produced.
Many aluminum and stainless steel products are strengthened by a little known manganese product made at this plant. The specialty product is made in huge electrolytic cells that operate in the same manner as car batteries. The United States represents one-third of the world market for electrolytic manganese, which means the Marietta plant has an advantage over overseas competitors, although several Chinese plants now offer serious competition.
In a remote corner of French-speaking Canada, near the Saguenay River, the major route between central Quebec and the St. Lawrence River, Elkem operates a small, efficient ferrosilicon furnace already rated a world class performer. The Chicoutimi operation features a hydroelectric power plant that generates cheap, reliable power, a prerequisite for a profitable, energy-intensive industry. Its remote location also assures low turnover among the 80 employees whom the plant manager considers the company's biggest asset.
Ferrosilicon is used by the steel and foundry industries throughout North America. Silicon is useful in steel because it ties up oxygen, providing sounder steel with improved properties. In foundries, silicon improves the machinability and properties of cast-iron engine blocks and other castings.
Elkem has operations in Pittsburgh, PA, Salt Lake City and Hamilton, Ontario. Last year Elkem' s U.S. operations employed 1250 people. North American sales amounted to $430 million (NOK 2.751 billion), contributing 30% of Elkem's total sales.
The Parent Company
Elkem a/s
Elkem a/s, a leading industrial company in Norway, is one of the world's leading suppliers of ferroalloys and silicon metal. Elkem is also engaged in aluminum production, the manufacture of carbon products, as well as a number of special products. Elkem's principal products are used in steel production, foundry products, chemicals, electronics, in the production of aluminum components and in manufacturing cement and insulation materials.
Elkem's main operations are in Norway and North America. Operations include 17 smelting plants in Norway, Iceland, the United States and Canada. The group has 5300 employees; 3800 in Norway and 25 wholly or partly owned companies in Europe, North and South America, in addition to sales offices around the world. The Aluminum Division is a partnership with Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa). Its two production locations are in Norway.
Elkem's operations use mostly clean renewable hydroelectric power, with total annual consumption reaching 11 billion kilowatt-hours. The nations of the European Union provide about half of Elkem's customers, while North and South America account for almost one-third.
Elkem has some 14,000 shareholders of which one-third are international owners. The company is listed on the Oslo and Frankfurt stock exchanges. Elkem's total net sales in 1995 amounted to $1.5 billion (NOK 9.3 billion) while profits reached over $170 million (NOK 1 billion).
For More Information about this Norwegian Leader in Metals, Contact:
Elkem Metals Company P.O. Box 266Pittsburgh, PA 15230Tel: 412/749-3900 Fax: 412/749-3920
Elkem a/sP.O.Box 4282 TorshovN-0401 Oslo, NorwayTel: 011 47 22 45 01 00 Fax: 011 47 22 45 01 55