November 03, 2005

Another recent asbestos bankruptcy to add to the list: ASARCO, one of the nation's oldest mining concerns (the old American Smelting & Refining), which is primarily a copper-mining company but has operated in asbestos as well. A union strike didn't help matters, but environmental-cleanup and asbestos exposures were a crucial factor; Merrill Lynch has estimated the company's liabilities at $300 million. That sum could easily be an underestimate, since the company is facing about 95,000 asbestos-related personal-injury claims, per the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.