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SiC Processing closes Norwegian slurry recycling plant

SiC Processing has announced the closure of its slurry recycling plant in Herøya, Norway, following the permanent closure of REC’s wafer facilities. Around 100 employees will be affected.

SiC Processing has had to make a number of closures on the back of REC's failings.

SiC Processing GmbH

Citing the closure of its main customer’s – Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC) – wafer manufacturing plant, which has meant lower slurry volumes, as the primary reason for its decision, the company says the operation of its recycling plant is no longer "cost efficient and economic".

In total, four production lines worth 44,000 tons annually, have been affected at its Herøya II facility, and 100 jobs lost. In a statement released, SiC Processing commented, "The business relation between SiC Processing and its customer is based upon long-term slurry supply contracts with durations until 2019. Both parties are currently discussing further steps and proceedings."

At the start of April, the company closed three production lines down, worth 34,000 tons annually, in Norway’s Glomfjord. It also stopped two lines at its Herøya I facility in July 2011.

Despite the difficulties facing its European operations, the company is continuing on with its Asian expansion plans.

Again at the start of April, it announced that four production lines were up and running in Zhenjiang, China. By the end of 2012, it expects to have six lines, worth 90,000 tons in operation. "For financing the production plant in Zhenjiang, Bank of China (BoC) paid out the second tranche of a loan to SiC Processing in the amount of 130 million RMB," it said in a statement released at the time.

Meanwhile, in Baoding, also in China, SiC Processing has successfully established its fifth production line. By the second quarter of this year, it said, a further 90,000 tons of recycling will be in place annually. It added, "Another 30,000 tons of annual capacity will be available at the new  production site Jingdezhen in China after completion of work mid 2012. This  capacity also will initially not be fully utilized due to the market  environment."