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What happened to Asarco?

By Olivia House

What happened to Asarco?

Asarco LLC (American Smelting and Refining Company) is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona, which mines and processes primarily copper. Asarco’s smelting plant in El Paso, Texas, was suspended in 1999 and then demolished on April 13, 2013.

What did Asarco do?

The American Smelting and Refining Company, known as Asarco, will pay a record $1.79 billion to settle claims for hazardous waste pollution at 80 sites in as many as 20 states. Cleanup will begin this year on one of Asarco’s most notorious properties — the copper smelter in El Paso, Texas.

How long did Smeltertown exist?

EL PASO – Smelter Town, a deserted ghost town on the north side of the Rio Grande inhabited for a century starting in the late 1880s by residents who worked for the copper smelting company that would become ASARCO has no inhabitants but is loaded with history.

Is Asarco still on strike?

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Our Union initiated an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Strike against Asarco in October 2019. The Union has informed Asarco of this decision and has said that the strike and all picketing activities will end on Monday, July 6, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. Arizona time and 10:00 a.m. Texas time.

Who is the CEO of Asarco?

Struggling copper producer Asarco LLC on Thursday named a new president and CEO with a background in another troubled metals business. Joseph Lapinsky, 57, president and CEO of Ohio-based specialty steelmaker Republic Engineered Products Inc., replaces Doug McAllister, who had served as interim CEO since December 2005.

What did Asarco smelter do?

For almost 100 years, the Asarco Company operated a copper smelter in Tacoma. Air pollution from the smelter settled on the surface soil of more than 1,000 square miles of the Puget Sound basin. Arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals are still in the soil as a result of this pollution.

When did Asarco go on strike?

October 2019
Our Union initiated an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Strike against Asarco in October 2019. For nearly nine months our members have stood strong on the picket line, continuing our campaign for a fair contact even in the middle of a national health emergency.

What role did ASARCO play in the history of El Paso?

ASARCO, originally known as the American Smelting and Refining Company, traces its origins to 1881, when Robert Safford Towne arrived in El Paso after touring the mines in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. During the 1920s ASARCO was the largest mining operator in Mexico, with twenty-four different units.

When was the ASARCO demolished?

The ASARCO smokestack — once the world’s largest — is demolished at the company’s old copper smelter in Ruston, north of Tacoma, on January 17, 1993.

Is Asarco Ray mine still on strike?

The unions representing workers striking against Tucson-based copper producer Asarco, LLC, ended the strike on Monday and offered to return to work. The strike began Oct.

What happened to Smeltertown?

And almost as soon as the contamination became known in the 1970s, the community of Smeltertown was erased: its buildings demolished, its people forced out. Now, the men and women who lived and worked in Smeltertown, their children, and their children’s children reunite each year.

Who is the CEO of ASARCO?