Huta Cynku “Miasteczko Śląskie” S.A.
Huta Cynku “Miasteczko Śląskie” S.A., headquartered in Miasteczko Śląskie (ul. Hutnicza 17), is a producer of zinc and lead, registered in the Polish National Court Register under KRS 0000197025; its principal registered activity is the production of lead, zinc and tin. Construction of the smelter began in 1960 under a licence from the British company Imperial Smelting Processes of Bristol, and the first zinc and lead were tapped from the shaft furnace on 23 October 1968. The joint-stock company was created through the commercialisation of a state enterprise; since September 2010 it has belonged to the Zakłady Górniczo-Hutnicze “Bolesław” S.A. Group, which has been owned by Stalprodukt S.A. since 2012.
The smelter uses the ISP process and produces Z1 (SHG 99.995%) and Z5 (GOB) zinc, ZnAl04 and ZnAl06 galvanising alloys, ZAMAK casting alloys and special alloys, Pb 985R and Pb 970R refined lead, bismuth lead, 99.99% cadmium metal, Doré metal (a silver alloy), copper matte and synthetic gypsum from flue-gas desulphurisation. Z1 zinc goes mainly to the automotive and construction industries for galvanising, while Z5 zinc is used by galvanisers and in brass production. A zinc refining department was built in 1997–1999, a desulphurisation unit for sinter-machine gases was commissioned in 2008, and in 2015 the zinc rectification department was extended with three rectification columns. The company holds ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 50001 and ISO 27001 certificates and an EcoVadis rating.
Besides sulphide concentrates from mines in Australia, Montenegro and Poland, the smelter’s feedstock includes oxide materials obtained from processing zinc-bearing waste, such as steelmaking dust (Waelz oxides), as well as hard zinc and zinc ash bought directly from galvanising plants. Under its integrated permit the smelter processes waste containing zinc and lead; according to a statement verified under ISO 14021, 97% of its Z1 zinc comes from recycled (pre-consumer) material. Together with the Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals, the smelter carried out a project to recover germanium – a critical raw material – from the polymetallic alloy formed during zinc rectification. As an IGMNiR member, Huta Cynku “Miasteczko Śląskie” represents zinc and lead smelting and the recycling of zinc-bearing waste.