The Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) has endorsed the participation of a South Korean company in new steel projects in the southern ports of the country, IRNA reported.
“We welcome the participation of Pohang Iron and Steel Company (Posco) in steel projects in Chabahar, Bandar Abbas, and Asalooyeh to help us reach the production of 55 million metric tons of crude steel by 2025 (in line with the objectives outlined in the 20-Year Vision Plan)”, said Mehdi Karbasian, the IMIDRO head, during his meeting with Jin Sik Choi, a top manager of Posco.
Jin, for his part, said his company is ready to implement the steel projects in Iran using a new processing technology known as Finex, adding that his company set up two steel factories in 2014 with production capacities of 2 and 1.5 million tons using the technology.
The new technology makes it possible to produce steel using iron ore fines without a need for iron ore pellets, lumps, or cokes; which would decrease costs by 30%.
Earlier in 2012, Posco, which is among the world’s top five steelmakers by output, cut ties with government entities in Iran and limited its trade with private firms due to tough western sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear energy program.
Iran currently produces steel either through ‘blast furnace’ method in companies such as Esfahan Steel Company, or ‘direct reduction’ method in steel plants such as Mobarakeh, Khuzestan, and Hormozgan.
Both steelmaking techniques need large quantities of iron ore pellets and cokes while the country – according to the minister of industry, mine, and trade – is short of such raw materials.
IMIDRO, the country’s major state-owned holding company in charge of studying, planning and launching projects in the mineral sector, said last week that it had signed an agreement with a multinational corporation for the construction of several major industrial plants, mainly involved in steel production.
The agreement has been signed with the Manila-based Altawitawi Nickel Mining Corporation (ANC), under which the ANC will embark on the construction of a plant to process coal and produce coke with an annual capacity of 600,000 tons in Tabas, South Khorasan province.
