1.   Mitsubishi Materials is shutting a zinc smelter in northern Japan.

2.   There, smoke from a zinc smelter has scattered huge quantities of heavy metals throughout the rural town.

3.   Two left for a nearby city and landed jobs in a state zinc smelter that is still solvent.

4.   Zinc smelters in the U.S., Canada, Peru, Finland, Thailand and South Korea are also in the process of expanding.