HSC Harsco Corporation

Worldwide industrial solutions company Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC) announced today the largest contract in its history with the awarding of a 25-year environmental solutions contract for onsite metal recovery in China to Harsco's previously–announced joint venture company with Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. (TISCO), one of the world's largest steel producers. The metal recovery portion of the contract is estimated in excess of $500 million over its 25-year period and will also pave the way for the joint venture company to commercialize slag co-products in China for a range of projected agricultural and industrial uses.

"The culmination of this important relationship establishes a major new platform for our continuing global advancement as a knowledge-based environmental solutions company," said Salvatore D. Fazzolari, Harsco Chairman, President and CEO. "We are honored to join with TISCO as long-term partners to such a far-reaching and environmentally beneficial enterprise."

The joint venture is expected to commence operations in the first half of 2012. As previously announced, the partnership has the potential to generate new revenues of an estimated $30 million in its first full year of operation (2013), ramping up to a projected run rate of approximately $50 million to $60 million per year when fully operational (2015). Harsco anticipates that the metal recovery operations will begin in 2012, and market development for the agricultural fertilizer and other commercial by-products will proceed in parallel, with an estimated start date of 2014. 

Harsco will apply its proprietary separation technologies to extract high-value metallic content from TISCO's slag for production re-use. Patterned after similar Harsco facilities in other parts of the world, Harsco's separation processes have a proven track record of recovering more than 99.8% of all metallics from stainless steel slag and also yield a calcium silicate-rich co-product that has shown significant benefits to agricultural productivity in major turf and crop-producing regions of the world. 

This latter point is of particular importance in China, where approximately 300 million acres are currently in agricultural production for a wide range of food and fiber crops. Researchers estimate that some 50 million acres, however, are deficient in silicon and/or contain acidic soil conditions, reflecting years of over-use and the effects of acid rain in China's coal mining regions. In trials already conducted in China for the partnership, Harsco's soluble silicon fertilizer has been shown to produce a 40% yield improvement in rice and other agricultural crops. Other anticipated markets for the slag include use as an ingredient in cement and for road base construction.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the company's strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected revenues and expenditures and financial results are forward-looking statements. Some of the forward-looking statements may be identified by words like "may," "could," "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," "projects," "indicates," and similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors, including those discussed more fully elsewhere in this release and in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Harsco, particularly its latest annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q, as well as others, could cause results to differ materially from those stated. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the worldwide business environment in which the Company operates, including general economic conditions; changes in currency exchange rates, interest rates, commodity and fuel costs and capital costs; changes in the performance of the equity and debt markets that could affect, among other things, the valuation of the assets in the Company's pension plans and the accounting for pension assets, liabilities and expenses; changes in governmental laws and regulations, including environmental, tax and import tariff standards; market and competitive changes, including pricing pressures, market demand and acceptance for new products, services, and technologies; unforeseen business disruptions in one or more of the many countries in which the Company operates due to political instability, civil disobedience, armed hostilities, public health issues or other calamities; the seasonal nature of the Company's business; our ability to successfully enter into new contracts and complete new acquisitions or joint ventures in the timeframe contemplated or at all; the ongoing global financial and credit crisis, which could result in our customers curtailing development projects, construction, production and capital expenditures, which, in turn, could reduce the demand for our products and services and, accordingly, our sales, margins and profitability; the financial condition of the Company's customers, including the ability of customers (especially those that may be highly leveraged and those with inadequate liquidity) to maintain their credit availability; the successful integration of the Company's strategic acquisitions; the amount and timing of repurchases of the Company's common stock, if any; our ability to successfully implement cost-reduction initiatives, including the achievement of expected cost savings in the expected timeframe; the ability of the Company to enter into the definitive agreements necessary to commence operations under the joint venture described in this announcement; the Company's ability to obtain approval of the joint venture from the Chinese government; and other risk factors listed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports. The Company undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements.

About Harsco

Harsco Corporation is a global solutions company serving major industries that are fundamental to worldwide infrastructure development and economic growth. Harsco's common stock is a component of the S&P MidCap 400 Index and the Russell 1000 Index. Additional information can be found at www.harsco.com.

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CONTACT: Investor Contact
         Eugene M. Truett
         717.975.5677
         etruett@harsco.com
         
         Media Contact
         Kenneth D. Julian
         717.730.3683
         kjulian@harsco.com