Without a deal, the facility would have to be wound down, impacting North America’s already constrained capacity to process copper into useful products. But Quebec has now proposed legislative changes to address some of Glencore’s main concerns. If passed, the metals company would get more time to reaching tougher emissions targets.
(March 30): The governments of Canada and Quebec are pushing to save the country’s only copper smelter after Glencore Plc threatened to shut it down over new pollution-control requirements.
The Horne Smelter, about 390 miles northwest of Montreal, is one of small number of facilities in North America that can process copper concentrate and recyclable materials such as electronic waste. The Swiss resources company said last month that it was suspending plans to invest nearly C$1 billion (US$720 million) in its Quebec copper operations after hitting an impasse in talks with the province over measures to reduce harmful arsenic emissions.
