Huludao Non-ferrous Metals Group, which has the largest zinc capacity in China, has restarted part of a smelter that has been closed for more than three years, a company official said on Monday.
He said the company restarted 50,000 tonnes of capacity at the 130,000-tonne-per-year plant on Sunday. The restart was likely to add around 30,000 tonnes to Huludao's total zinc output in 2004.
"(The smelter) is on a trial run now. The metal will come out in 4 to 5 days," the Huludao official told Reuters. The restart had been postponed twice before this year because of technical problems, he added.
The zinc plant - one of two smelters operated by Huludao in the north-eastern province of Liaoning - was closed in July 2001 due to a shortage of raw materials and low zinc prices.
But zinc has risen nearly 20 percent from three years ago, prompting Huludao to restart the idled capacity.
The official said the company would restart the remaining 80,000 tonnes of capacity at the smelter in stages next year.
Huludao also planned to complete construction of another 100,000 tonnes of capacity at the same zinc plant by August 30 next year, two months behind the company's previous schedule, he said.
Huludao also operates another zinc plant, with design capacity of 200,000 tonnes a year, which the official said would run at full capacity this year.
Last year, Huludao produced 226,000 tonnes of zinc, or 2.2 percent more than in 2002, said the company's listed-arm, Huludao Zinc.
China, which used to be the world's top zinc supplier, has reduced its exports in the past few years to supply domestic needs for its fast-growing economy, which grew 9.7 percent in the first half from a year before.
In the first half of 2004, China's refined zinc exports dived 51.2 percent to 100,802 tonnes, while output rose 13 percent to 1.23 million tonnes.
Benchmark three-month London Metal Exchange zinc was quoted at $1,035/$1,040 by 0330 GMT on Monday. The price was below $900 in July 2001, when Huludao closed the plant, and hit a three-year high of $1,169 a tonne in early March.