The Horsehead Holding Corporation, formerly The New Jersey Zinc Company, was an American producer of zinc and related materials based in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. The operations of the historic company are currently conducted as American Zinc Recycling. The New Jersey Zinc Company was for many years the largest producer of

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

and zinc products in the United States. The company thrived in the period from 1897 to 1966, at which time it merged with

Gulf and Western Industries Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. (stylized as Gulf+Western) was an American conglomerate. Originally, the company focused on manufacturing and resource extraction. Beginning in 1966, and continuing throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the company ...

. It continued to operate as a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of Gulf+Western until 1981, when a management-led buyout acquired it under the name of Horsehead Industries. The New Jersey Zinc Company remained a subsidiary of Horsehead Industries until 1987, when Horsehead merged it with

St. Joe Minerals St. Joe Minerals Corporation was an American mining company. It was the United States largest producer of lead and zinc at the time of its merger with Fluor Corporation in 1981. The St. Joseph Lead Company was founded on March 25, 1864 by Lyman W. ...

a Missouri lead and zinc producer to form Zinc Corporation of America. The company suffered from worldwide record low prices for zinc in the early 2000s and filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

in 2002.

Sun Capital Partners Sun Capital Partners, Inc., is an American private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts. Sun Capital was founded in 1995 by Marc J. Leder and Rodger Krouse, former classmates at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and ...

purchased the company's assets in 2003 for $73.6 million and renamed it Horsehead Corporation which currently produces zinc products processed from recycling and steelmaking waste. Horsehead filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb 2, 2016.

History

The company had its origins in northwestern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

in 1848 when two companies were created to exploit the

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

and

deposits at

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

and Sterling Hill in

Sussex County, New Jersey Sussex County is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. Its county seat is Newton. ...

. The Sussex Zinc and Copper Mining and Manufacturing Corporation was incorporated in 1848 for the purpose of mining zinc, and the New Jersey Exploration and Mining Company was incorporated in 1849 for the purpose of mining iron. The founding partners were the same for both companies, and in 1852 the companies merged to form the New Jersey Zinc Corporation. The company adopted the horsehead, one of the state symbols of New Jersey, as its logo. Because of ambiguous deeds, overlapping claims, and misunderstanding over the nature of the ores at Franklin and Sterling Hill, mining companies in the district were in constant litigation. From 1868 to 1880, the New Jersey Zinc Company fought a legal battle with

Moses Taylor Moses Taylor (January 11, 1806 – May 23, 1882) was a 19th-century New York merchant and banker and one of the wealthiest men of that century. At his death, his estate was reported to be worth $70 million, or about $ billion in today's dollars. ...

's Franklin Iron Company, a dispute that was finally resolved in 1880 by merging the two companies into the New Jersey Zinc and Iron Company. In 1897, the remaining Franklin District companies were consolidated under the umbrella of the New Jersey Zinc Company, led by Stephen S. Palmer and

August Heckscher August Heckscher (August 26, 1848 – April 26, 1941) was a German-born American capitalist and philanthropist. Early life Heckscher was born in Hamburg, Germany. He was the son of Johann Gustav Heckscher (1797–1865) and Marie Antoinette Br ...

as general manager. The Palmer family controlled the company for 46 years until the death of Stephen's son

Edgar Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...

in 1943, when the estate of Edgar Palmer was forced to sell its controlling interest in order to pay inheritance taxes. In 1966, the company agreed to merge with

and become a subsidiary of that conglomerate. The passage of environmental protection laws in the 1970s turned New Jersey Zinc's legacy of environmental pollution into a liability. In 1981, former officials of Gulf and Western's Natural Resources Division led a buyout of New Jersey Zinc and made it a subsidiary of Horsehead Industries, Inc, a reference to the company's logo adopted in 1852. Saddled with environmental cleanup liabilities, and struggling with cash flow due to record low prices in the early 2000s, Horsehead Industries filed for bankruptcy in 2002. At its peak, the company owned and operated smelters and mines across the United States and Canada. The sites of the smelters at De Pue, Illinois and

Palmerton, Pennsylvania Palmerton is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The borough's population was 5,414 at the 2010 census. Palmerton is located northwest of Allentown and northwest of Philadelphia. ...

, and the Eagle Mine in

Eagle County, Colorado Eagle County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 55,731. The county seat is the Eagle, Colorado, Town of Eagle and the most populous community is Edwards, Colora ...

are listed as EPA

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

sites. On July 22, 2010, two Horsehead workers were killed at a plant in

Monaca, Pennsylvania Monaca ( ) is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States along the Ohio River, northwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 5,615 as of the 2020 census. First incorporated as Phillipsburg as the home of the New Philadelphia Societ ...

. An explosion occurred in a refinery column and the workers suffocated due to smoke inhalation. The 1954 film '' Salt of the Earth'' was based on the 1951 strike against New Jersey Zinc Company’s Empire Zinc mine in Bayard, New Mexico. In February 2016, Horsehead Corporation filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Court of Bankruptcy in Delaware. Subsequent to the bankruptcy filing many shareholders wrote into the court alleging foul play by Greywolf and other members of the ad-hoc group of noteholders. On May 2, in the US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, Judge Sontchi entered an order for the formation of an official committee of equity holders, declaring, "Something Smells fishy to the court". Shareholders in Horsehead included

Mohnish Pabrai Mohnish Pabrai is an Indian-American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was born in Bombay (Mumbai), India, on June 12, 1964. Career Pabrai worked with Tellabs between 1986–91, first in its high speed data networking group, and th ...

, Matthew Peterson,

Phil Town Philip Bradley Town (born 21 September 1948) is an American investor, motivational speaker, and author of two books on financial investment that were ''New York Times'' best-sellers. Early life and education Phil Town was born in Portland, Ore ...

and

Guy Spier Guy Spier (born February 4, 1966) is a Zurich-based investor. He is the author of ''The Education of a Value Investor''. Spier is the manager of the Aquamarine Fund with $350 million in assets. He is well known for bidding US$650,100 with Mohni ...

Horsehead emerged from bankruptcy in September 2016 as a private company owned by Greywolf Capital Management, and renamed "American Zinc Recycling". As of August 2018, American Zinc Recycling operates six facilities: a state-of-the-art solvent-extraction and electrowinning plant in Mooresboro, NC; a zinc powder facility in

; and four recycling facilities located in

Barnwell, South Carolina Barnwell is a city in and county seat of Barnwell County, South Carolina, United States, located along U.S. Route 278. The population was 4,750 at the 2010 census. Geography Barnwell is located east of the center of Barnwell County at (33.244 ...

, Calumet, Illinois,

Rockwood, Tennessee Rockwood is a city in Roane County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 5,562 at the time of the 2010 census. It is included in the Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Rockwood is located at (35.869147, -84.67 ...

, and

. On April 28, 2019, a fire started at the company's zinc production plant in Mooresboro which forced some residents in the area to evacuate. None of the company's employees were injured and all were accounted for.

References

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External links

Horsehead Corporation
(archived) American companies established in 1848 Zinc companies Mining companies of the United States Companies based in Pittsburgh Non-renewable resource companies established in 1848 1848 establishments in New Jersey Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016 Metal companies of the United States 2007 initial public offerings Gulf and Western Industries 1966 mergers and acquisitions 1981 mergers and acquisitions 1987 mergers and acquisitions 2003 mergers and acquisitions

History

See Also

References

External links