By AP/KWMU
Sauget, Ill. – A Metro East producer of zinc says that it will stop production indefinitely at a Sauget plant with 300 workers.
In a brief statement today Big River Zinc Corporation officials blamed economic considerations for its plan to shut its operations down beginning in February.
The Sauget plant produces more than 100,000 tons of zinc metal per year.
Big River Zinc president George Obeldobel told the Belleville News-Democrat that the world market for zinc has declined since 2001 and many mines have closed.
He says now that China has became a major user of zinc, Big River Zinc can't get the raw materials it needs.