Ausmelt cleaning up Bulgarian lead production

  Ausmelt Ltd has signed a contract with Intertrust Holding BG to provide Ausmelt technology for the modernization of an existing lead smelter at the town of Kurdjali in Bulgaria. The project combines Australian core technology with an existing blast furnace on the site.The plant modernization is largely driven by an environmental imperative. The adoption of Ausmelt technology together with planned new gas cleaning equipment and acid plant will dramatically improve sulphur capture and reduce dust emissions in Kurdjali, to conform with modern European standards.The Ausmelt contract for provision of its technology, associated engineering services and equipment is valued at A$9.3 million. Engineering design for a new Ausmelt furnace will begin immediately and the new plant is scheduled to start up in the second half of 2009.Ausmelt’s Managing Director, Paul Abbott, said: “We are very pleased to have won this project in Bulgaria. It will establish a good reference site for Ausmelt technology in the FSU and European markets.“Ausmelt will work closely with Intertrust to ensure a smooth implementation of the total project.”The new plant will produce approximately 60,000 tonnes a year of lead in bullion to be refined in the existing refinery.Intertrust’s Chairman Valentin Zahariev, said: “We are very excited about achieving this contract signing which will, after implementation, achieve a significant improvement in the environmental circumstances at Kurdjali and also provide a substantial increase in production rates