SMS group successfully commissioned the first of two submerged-arc furnaces for the production of silicon at Mississippi Silicon. Commissioning of the second furnace is also scheduled for this year. The annual capacity of the two furnaces is 33,000 tons. SMS group supplied two submerged-arc furnaces, the electrode strings, the material-handling system and the hydraulic systems. Mississippi Silicon’s new plant in Burnsville, Miss., is one of the most efficient of its kind in the world. The company is now able to supply metallurgical silicon to aluminum facilities in the region. Silicon metal is used as an alloying element in the production of aluminum.