HARRISBURG, Pa., May 29, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Worldwide industrial services and products company Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC) announced today that its Heckett MultiServ division, the world's leading provider of on-site, outsourced mill services to the steel and metals industry, has been awarded additional service responsibilities and the renewal of its existing responsibilities at the CSH steel works in Chile under new multi-year contracts ranging from five to eight years. The contracts are projected to generate positive Economic Value Added (EVA(r)) benefit from their inception.
The contracts add scrap baling to Heckett MultiServ's existing on-site responsibilities at the CSH works, where Heckett MultiServ has been providing uninterrupted services for 25 years. CSH, or Compania Siderurgica Huachipato S.A., is an integrated mill producing pig iron from ore in its blast furnaces, transforming this into liquid steel from which continuous-cast slabs and billets are produced. These are then rolled into finished higher value-added products such as bars, hot and cold-rolled sheets and coils, welded tubes, zinc-alum sheets and coils, and electrolytic tin plate coils. The massive CSH facility has an annual capacity of more than 1.2 million tons of liquid steel.
Heckett MultiServ's presence in Chile also includes the Noranda-owned Altonorte copper plant, which recently completed a five-year, $170 million expansion that increases its copper production capacity to nearly 300,000 tons per year. Heckett MultiServ is responsible for on-site slag pot carrying services, a core competency that Heckett MultiServ has successfully introduced to the copper and non-ferrous metals industries from its steel services experience. With the added scrap baling service and renewal of its existing service at CSH, together with its ongoing work at Altonorte, Heckett MultiServ's revenues from Chile-based operations are expected to exceed $30 million over the terms of the contracts. Altogether, Heckett MultiServ operates at more than 150 metal-producing mills in over 30 countries, providing a broad range of outsourced services to many of the world's foremost steel and metals producers.
Commenting on the contracts, Harsco Chairman, President, and CEO Derek C. Hathaway said, "We continue to see significant EVA-positive growth opportunities within our mill services business. We intend to direct our strong free cash flow toward targeted investments that will add to our sales and income growth."
Harsco Corporation is a $2 billion diversified industrial services and products company employing approximately 17,500 people in more than 40 countries of operation. Harsco's market-leading businesses provide mill services, access services, gas and fluid control products, and other infrastructure products and services to customers worldwide. Additional information about Harsco, including its Heckett MultiServ division, can be found at www.harsco.com.
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