smelter

noun

smelt·​er ˈsmel-tər 

: one that smelts:

a

: a worker who smelts ore

b

: an owner or operator of a smeltery

c

or smeltery

ˈsmel-t(ə-)rē 

: an establishment for smelting

Examples of smelter in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That opens up an opportunity for a metal smelter that sits outside of China. —Nicholas Gordon, Fortune Asia, 20 Jan. 2025

For its part, Korea Zinc argues Young Poong hopes to siphon off cash from the company, and that MBK has little experience running a smelter. —Nicholas Gordon, Fortune Asia, 20 Jan. 2025

Those events fed into a strong market for alumina which has in turn driven up the price of aluminum, forcing some metal smelters to trim production, including a move by Rusal, Russia’s biggest aluminum company to cut 250,000 tons of metal from its annual target. —Tim Treadgold, Forbes, 1 Dec. 2024

Aluminum smelters also produced record volumes during 2020, as did cement plants, with China’s production of each commodity accounting for nearly 60 percent of the global total. —Andrew S. Erickson, Foreign Affairs, 13 Apr. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

smelter

noun

smelt·​er ˈsmel-tər 

1

: a person whose work or business is smelting

2

or smeltery

-tə-rē

: an establishment for smelting