NPM Silmet AS is a rare-earth processor located in Sillamäe, Estonia. It is a subsidiary of Neo Performance Materials.
History
Pre-war history and World War II
History of Silmet dates back to 1926 when Swedish-Norwegian Eestimaa Õlikonsortsium, controlled by Marcus Wallenberg, was established to build a shale oil extraction plant in Sillamäe. For shale oil production, the consortium built a tunnel oven in 1928. However, due to the Great Depression, production halted in 1930 and was restarted only in 1936 by the reorganized consortium called Baltic Oil Company. The second tunnel oven was added in 1938. The main product was gasoline. After the Soviet occupation started in 1940, the plant was nationalized according to the 30 May 1941 Moscow Agreement between the Soviet Union and Sweden.[1][2]