VMZINC History

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In Greece and Egypt, the use of zinc since Antiquity has been proven with the discovery of jewelry and funeral urns.

18th century: after developing an original production process, an imperial decree was granted to Jean-Jacques Dony to mine the zinc ore deposit at La Vieille Montagne, near Liège, in Belgium. The Société des Mines et Fonderies de Zinc de la Vieille Montagne was created in 1837.

1853: La Compagnie royale asturienne des mines was founded.

1922: First electrolysis in Viviez.

1975: Continuous casting in Auby.

1978’s: Vieille Montagne develops and sells ANTHRA-ZINC, first matt black pre-weathered zinc.

1980: Development of the line of roofing and cladding “systems” and the service offers.

1987: La Compagnie royale asturienne des mines and la société Vieille Montagne merge to become Vieille Montagne France.

1993: Vieille Montagne France joins the Union Minière groupe and creates the brand name VMZINC in 1994. 1993: Launch of a new light gray preweathered product: QUARTZ-ZINC.

2000: VMZINC opens North American headquarters in Raleigh North Carolina.

2001: Union Minière group becomes Umicore group.

2005: The launch of the PIGMENTO line of colored preweathered products.

2014: The launch of zinc with engraved AZENGAR.

2017: VMZINC belongs now to the Belgian group Fedrus International.