El Paso Plant 

Telephone: 915-541-1800  Fax: 915-541-1866

Address: P.O. Box 1111, El Paso, TX 79999
               3201 West Paisano Street, El Paso, TX 79922

Location: The Plant is located in El Paso, Texas.

Operations: The El Paso Plant is a copper smelter that was placed on a care and maintenance status in February 1999. The plant employed a continuous top feed process that fed copper concentrates, oxygen and natural gas into cyclone reactors resulting in a copper matte that was subsequently treated in converter and anode furnaces. The plant also has two sulfuric acid plants. In 1998, the El Paso plant produced 120,320 tons of copper anodes and 347,674 tons of sulfuric acid.

Size: 585 acres, with the plant occupying 123 acres

Plant facilities: Unloading and sampling facility, flash dryer, two Con-Top cyclones, slag furnace; three Pierce Smith converters; two anode casting furnaces; two acid plants and support facilities.

Products: copper anodes, sulfuric acid

Employees: 5 (3 Salary, 2 Hourly)

Management:

Lairy Johnson, Environmental and Site Manager

 

History:

1887 - El Paso lead smelter founded by Robert S. Towne

1899 - Smelter becomes part of American Smelting and Refining Company

1911 - Copper smelter added at a cost of $300,000

1928 - Crushing plant installed

1948 - Zinc plant installed at a cost of $5 million

1972 - Acid plant installed at a cost of $6.7 million

1978 - Second acid plant installed for $15.5 million

        - Ore unloading and handling facility installed for $24 million

1979 - Sinter plant installed at a cost of $18.5 million

1982 - Zinc plant shut down

1985 - Lead plant operations suspended

1993 - Installation of continuous top-feed oxygen process technology (CONTOP). This greatly increased production and reduced sulfur emissions.

1994 - Stainless steel reactors were installed

1996 - Upgraded #1 and #2 acid plant capacities

1998 - Redesigned reactor feed system and increased plant capacity

1999 - Plant placed on care and maintenance status

 
TRI Data