The Russian corporate group, Metalloinvest and Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan have founded a joint venture under the name of Hamriyah Steel in the United Arab Emirates. SMS Meer a company of the SMS group, Germany is to build a bar mill for this new company in Sharjah.

The production capacity of the mill will be 1 million tonnes of bars per year. The diameters will range from 10mm to 40 mm. Main customer for the products will be the construction industry in the Emirates that is still expanding rapidly.

SMS Meer is to supply the complete mill including electrical equipment, and will also be responsible for erection supervision, commissioning and training of the customer’s personnel. The automation system from SMS Meer will control and monitor the whole production process.

The mill is charged from a walking beam furnace with a capacity of 180 tonnes per hour for 125mm to 170mm square billets in lengths of up to 12 meters. It consists of horizontal and vertical housingless stands, some of which can be used both horizontally and vertically, together with quick change equipment. The smallest dimensions are produced using the four slit method.

Commercial production at Hamriyah Steel is scheduled to start in 2009.