• After a period of extensive modernization, Interglass (the largest industrial glass producer in Kyrgyz Republic) is restarting the operation of its float glass plant in Tokmok. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provided a total of about $22 million for the project.
• Japan-based Nippon Sheet Glass Group will lay off an upwards of 75 employees at its Pilkington float plant in Laurinburg, N.C., in light of the temporary idling of one of its two float lines. The decrease in the plant’s production is projected to be finalized between August and September 2012.
• Nasir Group, a conglomerate of Bangladesh, has decided to invest more than Tk 600 crore to set up a new 600-tons-per-day float line in Tangail and expand the existing glass factory to meet the surging domestic demand.
• Silicon Metal Industries is behind a $300 million silicon smelting project in Southland, New Zealand, plans to go to the stock exchange to raise capital. The company wants to mine silica at Pebbly Hills; Southland holds an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 tons of high-purity silica as well as one billion tons of potentially useable lower-grade silica.
• Danieli Corus has received an order from CAP Acero (Compañía Siderúrgica Huachipato of Chile) for design and supply for the reline of their Talcahuano Blast Furnace No. 2.