Iran will soon be equipped with modern steelmaking technologies, said the CEO of the world’s fourth largest steelmaker, POSCO E&C.
During a meeting with Mehdi Karbasian, chairman of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization at IMIDRO’s headquarters on Tuesday, Hun Chun-kun added that POSCO will not only provide Iran with the FINEX steelmaking technology, but will also participate in jointly financing the establishment of steel plants in the country, IMIDRO reported on its website.
FINEX is the name for a steelmaking technology developed by Siemens VAI and POSCO. Molten iron is produced directly using iron ore fines and non-coking coal rather than traditional blast furnace methods through sintering and reduction with coke.
Elimination of preliminary processing will make the plant for FINEX less expensive to build than a blast furnace facility of the same scale.
An additional 10-15% reduction in production costs is expected through cheaper raw materials, reduction of facility cost, pollutant exhaustion, maintenance staff and production time.
The industrial heavyweight signed a memorandum of understanding with Iranian steelmaker Pars Kohan Diar Parsian Steel Company during the Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Joo Hyung-hwan’s visit to Tehran on Monday. The MoU worth $1.6 billion entails the joint manufacture of a steel mill located in Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone using POSCO’s modern technology, capable of putting out 1.6 million tons of steel annually.
The POSCO representative also pointed to the MoU signed by POSCO Energy with PKP to construct a 500-megawatt power plant in CFZ, and the project undertaken by Korea Electric Power Corp. to establish a desalination facility nearby, emphasizing that the projects are “fully backed by South Korea’s government and banks”.
Karbasian, who is also deputy minister of industries, mining and trade, welcomed the prospect of cooperation with POSCO and said the ministry and PKP are fully committed to this cooperation.
Noting that Iran’s expansive reserves of iron ore and coal can easily feed the facilities, Karbasian proposed IMIDRO and POSCO join forces and undertake projects in Afghanistan and Kazakhstan.
