Iran Raising Iron Ore Pellet Production Capacity

Iran’s largest steel producer, Mobarakeh Steel Company, has completed the installation of a new 5 million-ton/year iron ore pelletizing plant in Sangan, northeastern Iran.

It is also ready to start commissioning after the final testing within the next few days, according to a company statement.

Another MSC project, a 5 million-ton/year iron ore concentrate plant in northeast Iran, is expected to be completed by March 2018 S&P Global Platts reported.

“Some 11,500 trillion rials (about $306 million) have been invested by MSC for the pelletizing project,” the company’s managing director, Bahram Sobhani, said.

MSC used to import a portion of its pellet requirements, but these have been halted for a year. Pellets are currently supplied by domestic producers.

Iranian companies produced 25.8 million tons of iron ore pellets in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2017), but the capacity is expected to increase to about 42 million tons/year by March 2018, the Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation Organization, the state-owned holding company active in Iran’s mining sector, said.

MSC recently increased its steelmaking capacity to 9.45 million tons/year from last year’s 7.65 million tons, after launching a new casting machine that raised output at its main plant, in Isfahan, to 7.2 million tons/year.

The company is also increasing capacity at Saba Steel, its affiliated thin-slab strip producer in Isfahan, to 1.6 million tons/year from 750,000 tons/year, which will increase MSC’s overall nominal capacity to 10.3 million tons/year, the company said.