The dismantling of Asarco is continuing, with a surplus equipment auction scheduled for Friday and the demolition of another smokestack coming later this year.

This is to be the second Asarco auction, as well as the second time a smokestack comes down since the plant was “temporarily idled” in April 2001.

The July 2002 auction involved more than 2,600 lots of equipment, from backhoes to buckets of hammers, available for purchase with an estimated value of around $2 million.

At that time, a company representative said the equipment was part of a surplus supply that the smelter didn’t need during the temporary closure, and that if necessary, the company could purchase similar equipment within six months of re-opening.

Asarco officials couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday. But the Web site for Pate Auction, which is conducting the sale, said items available to bid on Friday include forklifts, an excavator, machine shop equipment, trucks, four-wheelers, office equipment and a wide range of tools.

A pre-auction inspection will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday. Bidder registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday, and purchased items must be removed from the site by 5 p.m. Sept. 1.

The demolition of the 200-foot smokestack will take place later in the year, as part of the ongoing dismantling of the century-old lead smelting plant, according to Iver Johnson with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Knocking down the stack, which is one of four remaining on-site, is part of the second demolition phase at the plant that started this week.

“It’s not one of the larger stacks, and I think it’s probably from the bag house,” Johnson said on Tuesday.

The five Asarco smokestacks had long provided the distinctive backdrop to the city of East Helena. The 350-foot zinc smelter stack was torn down in January 2005, as part of the effort to recycle tons of materials left at the 141-acre site from more than 100 years of lead smelting.

Tom Aldrich, Asarco’s vice president of environmental affairs, had said in July that no smokestacks were included as part of the Asarco smelter’s ambitious demolition plan for the property this summer. He wasn’t able to be reached Tuesday to say what had caused the change in plans.

Asarco has embarked upon an ambition three-phase plan this year for tearing down about a dozen structures at the East Helena site. Johnson said Phase One, which involved removing the sinter plant, is complete.

“It’s all gone,” he said. “As of the first of August, they’ve recycled 119,000 pounds of non-ferrous metals like copper, aluminum and other stuff like that, and loaded it onto 19 rail cars.”

Material that can’t be recycled is being stored on-site, and later will be moved to a nearby landfill.

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