Dowa resumes operations at Akita zinc refinery

Dowa Mining Holdings Co said on Wednesday it had resumed operations of its 200,000 tonnes-a-year Akita zinc smelter in northeastern Japan.

The Akita plant is Japan's biggest zinc smelter, accounting for nearly 30 percent of its total production. Dowa also said it had restarted its Kosaka copper smelter, with production capacity of 8,000 tonnes a year, in the northeast of Japan.

A March 11 earthquake that devastated coastal areas of northeast Japan had caused nearly 65 percent of Japan's production capacity of zinc, used in automotive steel sheet and construction.