Air Liquide: 70 million new investment with Polish copper industry leader

Air Liquide and KGHM Polska Miedź have signed a long-term agreement to supply gases to the copper production site in Głogów, located in the west of the country, 100 km from Wrocław. 

Air Liquide will invest more than €70 million in an Air Separation Unit with a production capacity of 1,500 tonnes of oxygen per day. KGHM will use this oxygen in its modern copper production process, improving efficiency and reducing atmospheric emissions. 

The unit will be designed and manufactured by Air Liquide Engineering & Construction teams based in Poland and in France. It will be commissioned early 2015 and incorporate the Group’s latest technologies, which offer highest levels of energy efficiency and reliability. 

Created in 1961, KGHM Polska Miedź is one of the leaders of the copper industry in Europe, the 10th-largest producer of copper in the world, and the leading producer of silver in the world. Air Liquide’s Air Separation Units, located in Dąbrowa Górnicza, Kraków and Puławy, in the South and East of Poland, currently already represent the largest production capacity of industrial gases in Poland. With this new investment in Głogów, Air Liquide is strengthening further its network of plants in this country. 

Guy Salzgeber, Vice-President North and Central Europe and a member of the Air Liquide Executive Committee, declared: “We want to thank KGHM for its trust in awarding us this project. With this investment, Air Liquide is reinforcing its global position in the dynamic market of Poland. Overall, Air Liquide is maintaining its investment pace in line with the Group’s longterm strategy, which notably consists of seizing opportunities for future growth in dynamic economies.”