Harsco Names CEO for Its Global Harsco Metals Business Group

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 11, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Worldwide industrial services
company Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC) announced today the appointment of Galdino
Claro as the new CEO of its global Harsco Metals business group, effective June
1, 2009. Mr. Claro will be directly responsible for more than 160 locations in
over 30 countries employing approximately 11,500 people.

Mr. Claro comes to Harsco with nearly 30 years of executive leadership
experience in the worldwide metals industry, including 20 years as an
international operations executive within Alcoa Inc. where he led the strategic
growth of operations in the Asia-Pacific, European and Latin American regions.
He joins Harsco from Aleris International Inc., a Texas Pacific Group company
and a global leader in the aluminum rolling and recycling industries, where he
served as CEO of Aleris Americas. Prior to Aleris, Mr. Claro was the president
and CEO of the metals processing group of Heico Companies LLC, a Chicago-based
firm specializing in acquiring underperforming companies and growing them into
industry leaders.

With Alcoa, Mr. Claro managed the development and expansion of a number of
international operations, including four years as president of Alcoa China where
he was responsible for Alcoa's eight joint venture and wholly owned operations
in China and Korea. His responsibilities included a strategic alliance with
China's largest aluminum and alumina producer as well as several aluminum
rolling and hard alloys extrusion operations, five sales and representation
offices, a global sourcing operation and a logistics center. He was also
responsible for forming a local mergers and acquisitions office and creating a
mapping methodology for growth opportunity identification, analysis and due
diligence. Under Mr. Claro's tenure, Alcoa became the largest foreign investor
in the Chinese aluminum industry.

In Europe, Mr. Claro served as president of Alcoa Europe Extrusions
headquartered initially in Milan, Italy and later in Geneva, Switzerland, with
responsibilities for 20 operating facilities in nine European countries. He has
also led operations and innovation for Alcoa's global packaging group based in
New York, overseeing nearly 80 manufacturing and product innovation centers. In
Brazil where Mr. Claro started with Alcoa, he held several manufacturing,
technology, sales and marketing positions including managing director for Alcoa
CargoVan. Prior to joining Alcoa in Brazil, he was employed by Motogear-Honda as
a quality control manager and by Alcan as a cold mill rolling technician. Mr.
Claro is certified as an expert in total quality by the International Labor
Office in Chiba, Japan, speaks five languages and holds a degree in mechanical
engineering from the University of Taubate in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Commenting on the appointment, Harsco Chairman and CEO Salvatore D. Fazzolari
said, "From challenge comes opportunity, and we see the current downturn in the
global steel and metals industries as the right time to strengthen our position,
build our leadership team for the future, and secure additional momentum for the
inevitable market recovery. Galdino brings to us the broad-based global
experience and perspective that will be essential as we build from our current
base to achieve our greater objectives for Harsco Metals as a global leader
serving the world's most advanced and progressive companies within the larger
metals sector." Mr. Fazzolari noted that Harsco has been steadily adding to its
global leadership team to prepare for future growth and that today's
announcement continues a process that has already seen the announcement of
several key leadership appointments within the past several months.

Mr. Claro will be based in the United States, heading up a new global
headquarters organization for Harsco Metals that will oversee the group's
regional headquarters throughout the world. He will be responsible for executing
a number of key strategies of the Company including emerging market growth, as
well as customer and market diversification. He will report to Geoffrey D. H.
Butler, who as Harsco's president and member of the Company's Board of Directors
will continue his overall responsibilities for the Company's operations and
strategic business objectives.

Harsco Corporation is one of the world's leading diversified industrial services
companies, providing essential services and equipment to key industries that
play a fundamental role in worldwide economic growth and recovery, including
infrastructure, metals, railways and energy. 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.

The Harsco Corporation logo is available at
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CONTACT: Harsco Corporation
Investor Contact
Eugene M. Truett
717.975.5677
etruett@harsco.com
Media Contact
Kenneth D. Julian
717.730.3683
kjulian@harsco.com