December 2014 Zinc Ink - Nyrstar Clarksville

StarNewswww.nyrstar.com

PLUSEnvironmental

Update December

2014 - Year in Review

p.12Employee

Anniversaries and

Retirements p.10

A Holiday Message from

the Plant Manager

p.4Continuous

Improvementp.5

Salvation Army

Christmas Treep.15

HOLIDAYS TIPS

Are you ready for the Holidays? p.8

E VENTS

A look at our Thanksgiving gathering p.11

TOP 10 SURVIVAL TIPS FOR HOLIDAY TRAVELWherever you’re heading, if you’re traveling during the holiday season, you need to realize that everyone else in the world is too.

PAGE 8

PRODUC TION RE VIE W

Production year in review p.6

Zinc Ink

December 2014

Clarksville

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C l a r k v i l l e N y r s t a r Z i n c I n k N e w s l e t t e r | D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 4

To capture the maxi-mum value inherent in

mineral resources through deep market insight and unique processing capabili-ties, generating superior re-turns for our shareholders.

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C l a r k s v i l l e N y r s t a r Z i n c I n k N e w s l e t t e r | D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 4

» p.8

» p.11 » p.6

» p.15

4 PLANT MANAGER MESSAGE

5 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM 2015

6 PRODUCTION YEAR IN REVIEW

8 TOP 10 SURVIVAL TIPS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

10 EMPLOYEE ANNIVERSARIES

11 THANKSGIVING PICTURES

12 ENVIRONMENTAL UPDATE

14 LIVING THE NYRSTAR WAY - CREATIVE & INNOVATIVE THINKING

15 SALVATION ARMY CHRISTMAS TREE

CONTENTS CLARKSVILLE NYRSTAR ZINC INK

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I w a n t

t o f ocus

now on thanking every

member of the Nyrstar

Clarksville family for their

service during 2014.

It is very important to

reflect that we are ending

2014 in a strong fashion.

Happy Holidays!

Ending one chapter…

I find it difficult to think that 2014 is ending for us.

We had a lot of positives at Clarksville during the year, with a steak of more than 210 days between recordable incidents as a huge highlight.

This year’s roaster turnaround went as smooth as any I have ever seen here or at other zinc smelters.

A number of people worked on better ways to operate germanium production campaigns and achieved recovery rates as good as have ever been made at the smelter.

We also struggled through the “polar vortexes” in January and February, problems with our Ajax furnace in the Cast House and a period where output from the Tennessee mines fell below our expectations at the start of the year.

It is very important to reflect that we are ending 2014 in a strong fashion.

I also take the opportunity to save farewell and express my thanks to Ken Wall who retires at the start of 2015.

…while starting another chapter…

I mentioned that we are ending 2014 with strong results. This puts in a good position to start 2015 which will bring its own changes and challenges.

You will see dramatic changes in the way that we communicate with a redesigned Zinc Ink, a new Metals Processing monthly magazine, and installation of video displays in the departments.

We will revitalize our continuous improvement efforts.

New people have joined us and will settle into their roles.

Our budget has been approved for 2015 and we will share it with every-one during January. I want to save the discussion of 2015 expectations and challenges until then.

I want to focus now on thank-ing every member of the Nyrstar Clarksville family for their service during 2014.

Please enjoy the holiday season and stay as safe off the job as on the job!

A MESSAGE FROM STEVE JAMES PLANT MANAGER

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As most of you remember, there was a great focus on achieving Operational Excellence in everything we do with the help of our consul-tants from Aquila from 2010 to 2013.

You also may have thought that this was just a fad as the focus may have seemed to lessen since our consulting friends had left site early 2013.

Rest assured, the site-wide focus on the Continuous Improvement Program will resurface, reinvigo-rated, in 2015 and beyond.

Going forward, the program will use a combination of Operation Excellence and Lean Manufacturing tools and con-cepts in order to effectively and efficiently run our operation, in a safe and environmentally friendly way while maximizing profits and minimizing value leakage.

Continuous Improvement will not be run in addition to our business, but how we run our business.

So what is actually meant by the statement, “the program will use a combination of Operation Excellence and Lean Manufacturing tools and concepts in order to effectively and efficiently run our operation in a safe and environmentally friendly way while maximizing profits and

minimizing value leakage”?

This simply means that we will aim to increase our profit (by increasing production of products, reducing of costs and/or becoming more effi-cient in how we work) while main-

taining a safe and environmentally friendly workplace.

To further understand the term value leakage, we must understand what makes up “Value” at Nyrstar.

Value is anything that can be attained to improve earnings. For years, the Clarksville site has pro-duced Zinc as a predominate product. Today Zinc is one of many products that Clarksville produces.

Z inc Su l fa te , Germanium Concentrate, Gallium Concentrate, Copper (Cement and Sulfate), Cadmium and Sulfuric Acid are all products that improve the profit-ability of Clarksville.

Value leakage occurs when there is waste of these products due to lack of efficiency, low product recoveries or processes being off-line to name a few.

These are areas where the Continuous Improvement program and tools can assist in eliminating/minimizing this value leakage.

In 2015, the site Continuous Improvement program will focus on four teams in order to support our 2015 Budget.

These teams will be Roaster O p t i m i z a t i o n , R o a s t e r

Availability, Leach Stabilization and Cell House Optimization.

Each team will encounter area spe-cific issues to improve efficiencies, recoveries and availability.

Stay tuned for more information and updates regarding Continuous Improvement and how you can get involved.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

PROGRAM 2015 BY ANDREW DEAN

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I in the “STOP for Each Other” training, we learned the con-

cept that “all injuries can be pre-vented.” Using this concept as a base, we learned how to apply the individual STOP Principles, which taught us how to see safety in our tasks that we do every day, in a dif-ferent way. We all share a personal responsibility for safety. Safety for ourselves, and our co-workers.

When we think about safety for ourselves, we should

think about what is that we are doing, and how that might hurt us, or someone else working close

by. Think about using the ABBI prin-ciple – Where you’re looking Above; Below; Behind & Inside the space where you’re working. Have a ques-tioning attitude: Is what I’m doing have the potential to hurt me or others? It only takes a few moments to do this, and as you get better at it using it, you’ll start seeing safety in a different way. You’ll be using your Mind’s Eye to see safety better.

Another important concept for personal safety, is the Head-to-

Toe check. By asking ourselves:

•“Do I have the right tools & equip-ment to do my job?”

•“Are my tools & equipment in good condition?”

•“Do I have the right PPE to do this task?”

•“Do I understand each step of the job, and more importantly, do I recognize the hazards associated with the job, and can I control the hazards?”

P urification Deregulation Status Achieved!

This past October sample results confirmed the Purification’s

area eligibility status for deregula-tion and based on the lower results of this and the previous sampling

PRODUCTION YEAR IN REVIEW 2014 PRODUCTION

SAFETY PURIFICATION

ZINC DUST BINS - AFTER

ZINC DUST BINS - BEFORE

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regimens, the Purification area is ready to be deregulated from the Cadmium / Lead Standards as an area.

What are the benefits of having the Purification

area deregulated? •Personnel will not have the need for respiratory protection, except for specified job tasks as noted in the SOP’s • Personnel will not need to have their biological samples and / or Medical Physicals taken routinely (unless an individual requests) • Clothing changes for break periods are no longer required •Maintenance / Contractor work can be performed in the area in accordance with normally estab-lished procedures.

Although the area has past the criteria for deregulation, let’s

not fall behind on all the efforts invested and continue sustaining the standards and processes by maintaining the area in its present

condition through the established Housekeeping Plan that has been implemented by the department.

Recommendations moving for-ward - Based on efforts and

obtained results the recommended path forward is to: • Sampling and monitoring the area • Utilizing the safety department •Ensure controls in place are maintained •Continue a proactive approach to the maintenance of the equipment •Present formally to the group the overall achievement of the group itself and the benefits• Follow up monthly for 3 to 6 months to ensure best practices are in place. Keep up the good work and congratulations to all!

GERMANIUM

ANTIMONY ROOM - BEFORE

ANTIMONY ROOM - AFTER

Germanium production for 2014 is best measured by

how much available MTN concen-trates available to the site. With that said the L&P teams converted the entire available MTN calcine the Roaster produced with the exception of the inventory in the leach silos. We will consume that as much as possible by the end of the year and target zero MTN con-centrate in our concentrate stor-age building and at the MTN mine.

As of November close there have been 6960 DMT of sale-

able Ge residue produced with an average grade of .34% and an over-all recovery in the last several cam-paigns of plus 96%. Moistures in the salable residue have improved over the year as well. How did this result happen you might ask? Operational Excellence played a major role in transforming the operation. The OPEX team, using the PDCA tool, plan-do-check and

Achange over SOP was cre-ated and continues to be

improved up on that has also played a major role in increas-ing the overall recovery of Ge in the available feed stock from the Roaster. In short now we produce some amount of low grade at the beginning and end of the cam-paign which is then blended off with other higher grade material as it is available. The end result is that the site produces as much saleable Ge residue as possible to convert to revenue from the avail-able concentrates. Certainly all of this could not occur without the hard work day to day and atten-tion to detail from the team in the L&P department and their efforts are noticed and appreciated.

act, worked through and identi-fied the problems and set actions against them to eliminate or reduce the impact of the identi-fied problem. As a result the oper-ation of the process has improved also PM’s and overall maintenance of the JVAP equipment during the periods between campaigns was improved and that has resulted in a more reliable operation during the Ge campaigns.

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Wherever you’re heading, if you’re traveling during the holiday season, you need to realize that everyone else in the world is, too. But don’t let invasive secu-rity scanners, terrible drivers and long lines at airports get you down. We’re giving you tips to survive the holiday travel season without a Frosty the Snowman-size meltdown.

Do your research.

Plan alternative trips if traffic makes your way home too over-whelming. Is there a scenic drive that might be longer but have less traffic? Break up a long drive by finding a few places to stop that will get the kids more excited than a truck rest stop. When flying, make sure you check the airline’s restrictions ahead of time

on carry-on luggage and fees for checked bags.

Stay connected.

Stock up on the latest travel apps before you leave home. Flight Status gives you real-time updates on delays, baggage numbers and more, and GateGuru.com gives you approximate times you’ll spend in security. Heading out on the road? Find the cheapest gas and clean-est bathrooms on the road with GasBuddy.com and SitOrSquat.com

Pack light.

Avoid checking bags altogether if you can. You won’t have to wait for your luggage on the conveyor belt, and you won’t have to worry about your mom’s

Christmas present getting lost in another city’s airport. If you do check luggage, make sure you have all your medications and impor-tant documents and a change of clothes in your carry-on in case your luggage gets lost.

TOP 10 SURVIVAL TIPS FOR HOLIDAY TRAVEL PLANNING AHEAD

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“We’re giving you tips to survive the holiday travel season without a Frosty

the Snowman-size meltdown.”

Pack earplugs.

Short of doing yoga in the airport, the best way to mentally escape your stressful surroundings is to turn the volume down. And the easiest way to do that is with ear-plugs. Crying baby next seat over on the plane? Earplugs. Sister’s music in the car drivin you mad? Earplugs. And if you really want to check out for a bit? Bring an eye mask (as long as you aren’t driving).

Don’t get hungry.

When your tummy growls, your mind can’t think straight, and you could unknowingly get in the wrong line, take the wrong turn, or worse, upset an innocent flight attendant. Pack snacks and drinks, so you and your family will be fueled up for a road trip. If you’re flying, definitely get some grub before you board the plane, so you won’t have to rely on airline food if you’re sitting on the termi-nal for hours. .

Ship gifts or give gift cards.

TSA suggests to ship wrapped gifts or wait until you reach your destination to wrap them, as they might have to unwrap a present to inspect it. Ship gifts ahead of time or bring the gift that can’t go wrong: gift cards to their favorite store or an Amazon card.

Travel on off-peak days.

The Wednesday before Christmas is one the biggest travel day of the year and can also cause you the biggest meltdown of the year. A better option is to leave early the day before Christmas and avoid some traffic. Same goes with flying: if you fly on the actual

holiday itself you’ll be avoiding the long lines and hoards of travelers. .

Travel early or late in the day.

Flight statistics show that planes traveling earlier in the day have a better on-time performance. And if your flight is cancelled, you will have the option of taking a flight later in the day. Also, there will be fewer lines at security. Best time to hit the road? When every one else is asleep -- early morning or late at night. You can always take a nap when you arrive at your desti-nation or on the ride there (if you aren’t the driver, of course). .

Plan for the unexpected.

Have only a half hour before

connecting to another flight? Traveling upstate during snow season? Think ahead and plan accordingly. Leave extra time before flights to deal with secu-rity, extra time between connec-tions and, for road trips, pack tire chains for snowy conditions, flash-lights, and of course, a few band-aids never hurt either.

Inhale. Exhale.

The overly friendly person next to you on the plane, the cancelled flights, the luggage that fell off in the middle of the highway? All of it will make for great stories over dinner when you finally make it to your destination. After all, holiday travel stress is just as much of a tradition as pumpkin pie and regifting.

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36

35

34

31

21

15

Jaznach Gary 11/03/1978Casey Bobby 11/06/1978Lewis Louis 11/06/1978Smith Billy 11/06/1978Henderson Robert 11/13/1978Stribling Buddy 11/13/1978Dabbs Terry 11/20/1978Clinard Jim 11/21/1978

McLeskey Steve 11/06/1979Ray Rickey 11/19/1979Hembree Keith 12/12/1979

Holder Billy 11/21/1983

Grimsley Jr Joe 10/13/1980Fielder Mitch 11/03/1980Swaffer David 11/06/1980

McClintockKevin 12/02/1993

Giguere Don 11/25/2002

Jones Rob 11/08/1999Kromer Richard 11/09/1999

12

11Meece John 12/29/2003

Lambert Jeremiah 12/14/2004

10

8Baggett Roger 11/20/2006Bowling Rick 12/11/2006Swaffer II Ben 12/11/2006

7Crocker Chad 11/05/2007Gooden Tim 11/29/2007Downs Weldon 11/30/2007Williams Jeff 12/04/2007

EMPLOYEE ANNIVERSARIES CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

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Thanksgiving Day MealClarksville

Morrison Jr Bobby 11/30/2009 Eldridge Corey 11/01/2010Clark Bryan 11/01/2010Weijmans Frederike 11/01/2010Johnson Ricky 11/08/2010Austin Andrew 11/15/2010

Robison Andrew 11/05/2012Walton Rufus 11/12/2012Block Tony 12/05/2012Haywood Brian 12/05/2012

5 4 2

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INCIDENTS:

Starting into the holiday season, we have had a total of 74 envi-ronmental incidents reported into RIMS.

This keeps our monthly average of reported incidents below 7 per month, which is well below the monthly averages for the past few years.

November had 3 incidents reported. There was a reported issue with spillage from a busted oxide bag while being moved, and leaks reported in both the purified solution line and the spent acid line.

These incidents were rated as 1 on the consequence table.

Please keep a look out and report any environmental issues that you may come across throughout the day.

WASTE & RECYCLING

The site continues to dispose of gypsum to the landfill with 11,612 tonnes shipped through the end of November.

Disposal was cut back in December to only 3 days per week.

On the other two days, gypsum is being sold a customer.

The amount of cardboard sent for recycle increased from 37,000 lbs in 2013 to 47,000 lb this year (up 25%).

A similar increase can be seen for scrap metal, 445,000 lbs in 2013 versus 718,000 lbs in 2014 (up 61%).

There has also been an increase in the usage of the recycle station in the parking lot.

The aluminum can recycling gen-erated $216 that went toward the Angel tree program. Thanks to everyone for their continued

ENVIRONMENTAL UPDATE BY CHAD CROCKER - SENIOR ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISOR

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8.2 8.2 8.5 7.3 8.5 7.7 6.79

15

5 69

75

75

3 3

0

4

8

12

16

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

YTD Ja

n

Feb

Mar Ap

r

May Jun Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Environmental Incidents in RIMS Monthly Averages & 2014 Monthly

participation in the recycling program.

STORM WATER UPDATES

The BMP project at the germanium handling area

is nearing completion.

The extra paving and curbing will direct storm-water flow to a catch basin to capture any solids that would reach SW5 drainage area, while allow-ing “clean” stormwater flow to drain from the area.

A dedicated sweeper truck will be kept in the area

to help keep the area clean. Other housekeeping have been noticed around the site, mainly in the Metals Recovery area.

Great effort has been put into keeping the area under the gypsum conveyors clean, and a new ini-tiative has been taken to routinely clean the gypsum loading area. Keep up the good work, everyone!

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There's A Critical Difference Between Creativity And Innovation

There’s a lo t o f confus ion surrounding crea t iv i ty and innovation. “Creative types,” in part icular, claim that cre-at iv i ty and innovation can’t be measured. Performance, however, demands measurement so you can identify what success looks l ike. In a wor ld tha t changes every two seconds, i t ’s imperative that you f igure out the difference between creativi ty and innovation.

You better bel ieve they’re different.

Creativity vs. Innovation

The main difference between creativi ty and innovation is the focus. Creat iv i ty is about unleashing the poten-t ial of the mind to conceive new ideas. Those concepts could manifest themselves in any number of ways, but most of ten, they become something we can see, hear, smell , touch, or taste. However, creative ideas can also be thought experiments within one person’s mind.

Creativi ty is subjective, making i t hard to measure, as our creative fr iends assert.

Innovat ion, on the other hand, is complete ly measur-able. Innovation is about introducing change into relatively stable systems. It’s also concerned with the work required to make an idea viable. By identifying an unrecognized and unmet need, you can use innovation to apply i ts creative resources to design an appropriate solut ion.

We often chase creat iv i ty, but what we real ly need to pursue is innovation. Theodore Levitt puts i t best: “What

is of ten lacking is not crea t iv i ty in the idea-crea t ing sense but innovation in the action-producing sense, i .e. putt ing ideas to work.”

Creative and Innovative thinking provides a consistent approach to defining chal lenges. I t helps organizations identify problems before they even begin the brainstorm-ing sessions most associated with creativity. Now, orga-nizat ions can actual ly see what they were missing when previous ideas didn’t reach market sustainabi l i ty.

As a great example of these two pr inciples in act ion we can see how our Engineering and Roaster team ”The Winners of the Nyrstar 2013 Excellence Award,” used discretionary effort and innovation to improve processes result ing in improvements in WHB bundle rel iabi l i ty to stabi l ize roaster continuity.

The team made a new opera t ing sequence into DCS system which has resul ted in no bundle tube fa i lures s ince implementa t ion, prov id ing a more ef f ic ient and reliable boiler system. The more reliable operation saved considerable downt ime costs ( for example ~$2.8M in 2012) meaning considerable savings were met in this a rea in 2013. Now, that ’s creat ive & innovat ing thinking!

Well done to the engineering and roaster project team in Clarksville consisting of Craig Peterson, Alan Clarke, Tony Block, Steven Nich ols and Odin Abdoo. Congratulat ions!

LIVING THE NYRSTAR WAY CREATIVE & INNOVATIVE THINKING

Be drivenExhibit a high level of drive and perseverance and deliver superior performance

Prevent harmProactively manage risks related to our people, the environment, our strategy, our financials, and our assets

Be open and honestShare one’s point of view creating a productive environment by ensuring ideas and concerns are aired

Keep our wordDeliver on our commitments therefore building trust and productivity

Take bold decisionsTake calculated bold decisions in the face of uncertainty with confidence

Create valueSearch for ways to improve our profitability and identify growth opportunities

Use innovative and creative thinkingFind ways to improve existing processes or discover completely new ways of working

The Nyrstar Way

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Thank you for being an Angel this Christmas! Your generosity raised $1,685 for this year’s Salvation Army Angel Tree.

$216 of this came from recycling the aluminum cans that you all have brought to the Recycling Center. This, along with your generous donations,

allowed us to buy gifts for 8 children this year! Thank You!

Thanks to Corneice Hester, Kathy Spiceland, Gladivee Garcia, Heather Thompson and Matt Cross for braving the stores! A special thank you goes To Emily Poole for arranging the drive and shopping as well.

SALVATION ARMY

CHRISTMAS TREE BY EMILY POOLE - STAFF ACCOUNTANT

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December 2014 Zinc Ink - Nyrstar Clarksville