Trafigura completes Ecobat Stolberg lead smelter purchase

Commodity trader Trafigura said on Wednesday it has completed its purchase of Ecobat Resources Stolberg (ERS) multi-metals processing plant in Germany and plans to bring it online in the coming weeks to supply European battery producers.

The Stolberg plant will be operated and managed by Nyrstar, which Trafigura owns, and the Stolberg business will be renamed Nyrstar Stolberg GmbH, Trafigura said in a news release.

The plant was among several industrial sites damaged by massive flooding in Germany’s west and south last year and has suffered months of lost production.

It has the capacity to produce 155,000 tonnes of lead, and more than 100 different specifications of lead alloys as well as 130,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid.

“We plan to bring Nyrstar Stolberg online in the coming weeks,” Guido Janssen, co-CEO of Nyrstar, said.

(By Ashitha Shivaprasad and Seher Dareen; Editing by Jason Neely and Barbara Lewis)