South Korea's POSCO Puts FINEX Technology at Heart of Iran's Steel Production Drive

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Pohang Iron & Steel Company (NYSE:PKX) (POSCO) (Seoul, South Korea) will use its new steel-making technology, FINEX, in projects in Iran.

FINEX was developed by Siemens-VAI Technologies (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany) and POSCO. Molten iron is produced directly using iron ore fines and non-coking coal, rather than traditional blast furnace methods. Elimination of preliminary processing is said to make a FINEX-based plant less expensive to build than a blast furnace of the same scale.

Production costs are expected to drop 10% to 15% through the use of cheaper raw materials. POSCO also says it will reduce facility costs, maintenance staff and production time.

Currently, Iranian steel producers are using traditional blast furnace and direct-reduced iron (DRI) production methods.

Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) said it believes that FINEX technology can help Iran reach a target production of 55 million tons of steel annually by 2025. POSCO has two FINEX-based plants, with a total capacity of 3.5 million tons, in the pipeline.

IMIDRO intends to launch new steel projects in the southern ports of Chabahar, Bandar Abbas and Asalouyeh, in cooperation with the private sector.

IMIDRO also has signed an agreement with Atawitawi Nickel Mining Corporation (ANC) (Manila, Philippines), which will see the construction of major industrial plants in northern Iran. The majority of these plants will concentrate on steel production.

ANC also will work on the construction of a plant to process coal and produce 600,000 tons of coke annually in Tabas, in Iran's South Khorasan province.

For related information, see January 12, 2015, article - Iran Leads Middle East Steel Production, Expands Exports.

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