SICHUAN Hongda Chemical Industry Co's 100,000-ton zinc smelter, the biggest such plant in Sichuan Province, has halted production because of damage from the country's worst earthquake in more than 50 years. A wall had collapsed by the main gate and there were cracks in the buildings.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Sichuan on Monday may have affected as much as 500,000 tons of zinc smelting capacity in Sichuan and neighboring provinces, according to Feng Juncong, chief zinc analyst at Beijing Antaike Information Development Co, a research company.