Elkem
Encyclopedia
Elkem is one of Norway
's largest industrial
companies, and one of the world's leading suppliers of metal
s and material
s. The company's main products are aluminium
, energy
and silicon
as well as specialised products such as ferrosilicon
to foundries
, microsilica and carbon
. Elkem is part of Orkla Group
and has its headquarters in Oslo
, Norway
.
January 11th 2011 it was confirmed that the company China National Bluestar Group Co. Ltd. (Bluestar) had bought the company for 2 billion USD. The deal excludes 85 percent of the sister company Elkem Energi AS.
The company serves the construction
, transport
, engineering
, packaging, aluminium
, chemical and electronic
industries. Elkem has 40 factories
in Europe
, North America
, South America
and Asia
in addition to several hydroelectric power plants.
with the intention of development of furnace
s and processes for electro metals. In 1917 a ferroalloy
plant was acquired and Elkem starts production of the Søderberg electrode.
Throughout the 1960s and beyond Elkem expanded, primarily in Norway within aluminium, mining
and finished products. In 1972 the company merged with Christiania Spigerverk
and continued with an international expansion within ferroalloys and steel. In 1981-84 Elkem acquired Union Carbide
s plants in Norway and North America and in 1986 it acquires the plants at Thamshavn and Bjølvefossen. In the 2000s Elkem had acquired Icelandic Alloy, Remi Claeys Aluminium and Sapa (company).
Between 2002 and 2005 there was an acquisition war between the US
aluminium corporation Alcoa
and Orkla
. At the peak Alcoa owned 40% of Elkem, but Orkla succeeded at purchasing the majority of the shares and in 2005 Orkla acquired all the shares of Elkem and Elkem becomes part of Orkla Group.
In January 2011 Orkla ASA signed a binding agreement with China National Bluestar (Group) to sell Elkem, including Elkem Silicon Materials, Elkem Foundry Products, Elkem Carbon and Elkem Solar for a sales price of USD 2 billion.
companies. Alcoa now owns 100% of the Lista and Mosjøen smelters in Norway. Before 2009, these smelters where Elkems production of aluminium (operated through a partnership with Elkem Aluminium ANS and Alcoa).
(Norway), Shizuishan City (China
), Witbank
(South Africa
), Keokuk
(USA) and Vitória (Brazil
).
per year in Norway and an annual production of 3 TWh
. The group has hydroelectrics power plants in Bremanger (Norway), Sauda
(Norway), Salten (Norway), Hawks Nest
(USA), Glenn Ferris
(USA) and Chicoutimi (Canada).
, Canada
) and at Icelandic Alloys on Iceland
.
, Meråker
, Salten
and Thamshavn
, all in Norway. 63% of the companies revenue is silicon-based and produces 207,000 tonnes per year.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's largest industrial
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
companies, and one of the world's leading suppliers of metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
s and material
Material
Material is anything made of matter, constituted of one or more substances. Wood, cement, hydrogen, air and water are all examples of materials. Sometimes the term "material" is used more narrowly to refer to substances or components with certain physical properties that are used as inputs to...
s. The company's main products are aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
, energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
and silicon
Silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table...
as well as specialised products such as ferrosilicon
Ferrosilicon
Ferrosilicon, or ferrosilicium, is a ferroalloy, an alloy of iron and silicon with between 15% and 90% silicon. It contains a high proportion of iron silicides. Its melting point is about 1200 °C to 1250 °C with a boiling point of 2355 °C...
to foundries
Foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...
, microsilica and carbon
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
. Elkem is part of Orkla Group
Orkla Group
Orkla Group is a Norwegian industrial conglomerate operating in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe, Asia and the US. The company's main divisions are branded consumer goods, aluminium solutions, materials, associates and financial investments.-Operations:...
and has its headquarters in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
.
January 11th 2011 it was confirmed that the company China National Bluestar Group Co. Ltd. (Bluestar) had bought the company for 2 billion USD. The deal excludes 85 percent of the sister company Elkem Energi AS.
The company serves the construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
, transport
Transport
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...
, engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, packaging, aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
, chemical and electronic
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
industries. Elkem has 40 factories
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
in addition to several hydroelectric power plants.
History
Elkem was founded in 1904 by Sam EydeSam Eyde
Samuel Eyde was a Norwegian engineer and industrialist, the founder of Norsk Hydro and Elkem.-Biography:Sam Eyde was the son of a shipowner, and studied engineering in Berlin where he graduated in 1891. He started his career in Hamburg, working with the railways where he planned new lines, bridges...
with the intention of development of furnace
Furnace
A furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven.In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace , and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the...
s and processes for electro metals. In 1917 a ferroalloy
Ferroalloy
Ferroalloy refers to various alloys of iron with a high proportion of one or more other element, manganese or silicon for example. It is used in the production of steels and alloys as a raw material.The main ferroalloys are:*FeAl – ferroaluminum...
plant was acquired and Elkem starts production of the Søderberg electrode.
Throughout the 1960s and beyond Elkem expanded, primarily in Norway within aluminium, mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
and finished products. In 1972 the company merged with Christiania Spigerverk
Christiania Spigerverk
Christiania Spigerverk is a steel company which was founded in Oslo in 1853, and developed into one of the largest industrial companies in Norway. In 1972 Christiania Spigerverk fusioned with Elkem. It was sold to Norsk Jernverk in 1985, and again split out as a separate company in 1993....
and continued with an international expansion within ferroalloys and steel. In 1981-84 Elkem acquired Union Carbide
Union Carbide
Union Carbide Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. It currently employs more than 2,400 people. Union Carbide primarily produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some are high-volume...
s plants in Norway and North America and in 1986 it acquires the plants at Thamshavn and Bjølvefossen. In the 2000s Elkem had acquired Icelandic Alloy, Remi Claeys Aluminium and Sapa (company).
Between 2002 and 2005 there was an acquisition war between the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
aluminium corporation Alcoa
Alcoa
Alcoa Inc. is the world's third largest producer of aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. From its operational headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alcoa conducts operations in 31 countries...
and Orkla
Orkla Group
Orkla Group is a Norwegian industrial conglomerate operating in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe, Asia and the US. The company's main divisions are branded consumer goods, aluminium solutions, materials, associates and financial investments.-Operations:...
. At the peak Alcoa owned 40% of Elkem, but Orkla succeeded at purchasing the majority of the shares and in 2005 Orkla acquired all the shares of Elkem and Elkem becomes part of Orkla Group.
In January 2011 Orkla ASA signed a binding agreement with China National Bluestar (Group) to sell Elkem, including Elkem Silicon Materials, Elkem Foundry Products, Elkem Carbon and Elkem Solar for a sales price of USD 2 billion.
Aluminium
In March 2009, Alcoa and Orkla ASA exchanged respective stakes in the Sapa AB and Elkem Aluminium ANScompanies. Alcoa now owns 100% of the Lista and Mosjøen smelters in Norway. Before 2009, these smelters where Elkems production of aluminium (operated through a partnership with Elkem Aluminium ANS and Alcoa).
Carbon
The 1919 invention of the Søderberg electrode was Elkems entry into the carbon industry. Today Elkem produces 310,000 tonnes of carbon with the ferroalloy industry as its customers. Elkem is the world's largest producer of carbon electrode paste. There are production plants at KristiansandKristiansand
-History:As indicated by archeological findings in the city, the Kristiansand area has been settled at least since 400 AD. A royal farm is known to have been situated on Oddernes as early as 800, and the first church was built around 1040...
(Norway), Shizuishan City (China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
), Witbank
Witbank
Witbank , also known as eMalahleni is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the eMalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for White Ridge and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where wagon transport drivers rested...
(South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
), Keokuk
Keokuk
Keokuk may refer to:*Keokuk Places or warships named after Chief Keokuk:*Keokuk, Iowa, USA*Keokuk County, Iowa, USA*Keokuk Airport, USA*Keokuk-Hamilton Bridge, USA*Keokuk Rail Bridge, USA*USS Keokuk, several US Navy ships, including:...
(USA) and Vitória (Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
).
Energy
Elkem owns a number of hydroelectric power plants in both Norway and North America. The company has a total consumption of 8 TWhTWH
TWH or twh could refer to:*Tennessee Walking Horse, a breed of horse* Toronto Western Hospital, a hospital in Toronto, Canada* TWH Bus & Coach, a bus company in Romford, England* Terrawatt-hour, measure of electrical energy, 1012 watt-hours...
per year in Norway and an annual production of 3 TWh
TWH
TWH or twh could refer to:*Tennessee Walking Horse, a breed of horse* Toronto Western Hospital, a hospital in Toronto, Canada* TWH Bus & Coach, a bus company in Romford, England* Terrawatt-hour, measure of electrical energy, 1012 watt-hours...
. The group has hydroelectrics power plants in Bremanger (Norway), Sauda
Sauda
is a municipality and industrial town in Rogaland county, Norway. It is part of the region of Ryfylke. Sauda was separated from Suldal in 1842...
(Norway), Salten (Norway), Hawks Nest
Hawks Nest
Hawk's Nest or Hawks Nest may refer to:*Hawk's Nest, New York, a scenic overlook near Port Jervis, New York, USA*Hawks Nest, West Virginia, a recreation area in Hawks Nest State Park near Ansted, West Virginia, USA...
(USA), Glenn Ferris
Glenn Ferris
Glenn Ferris is a jazz trombonist who has also worked in other fields. Outside of jazz he has played for Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Duran Duran, and others....
(USA) and Chicoutimi (Canada).
Foundry products
The foundry production is served at four plants, at Bjølvefossen (Norway), Bremanger (Norway), Chicoutimi (QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) and at Icelandic Alloys on Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
.
Microsilica
Elkem is the world's largest producer of microsilica, with an annual production of 130,000 tonnes.Silicon
Elkem has silicon plants at BremangerBremanger
Bremanger is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. Bremanger is the only municipality in Sogn og Fjordane, which is located in two districts. The north-eastern parts comprising Oldeide, Berle, Rugsund, Davik, Isane and Ålfoten is located in Nordfjord, while Bremanger, Kalvåg,...
, Meråker
Meråker
Meråker is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Stjørdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Midtbygda which is about west of Storlien in Sweden and east of Stjørdalshalsen in Stjørdal. Other villages in Meråker include Gudåa,...
, Salten
Salten
Salten is a district in Nordland in North Norway, consisting of the municipalities Meløy, Gildeskål, Bodø, Beiarn, Saltdal, Fauske, Sørfold, Steigen and Hamarøy. The district borders Helgeland in the south , Ofoten in the north, Sweden in the east and Vestfjorden in the west...
and Thamshavn
Thamshavn
Thamshavn is a small port village in the municipality of Orkdal in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is the site of the port for Orkanger and the ferrosilicon plant Elkem Thamshavn...
, all in Norway. 63% of the companies revenue is silicon-based and produces 207,000 tonnes per year.