October, 07 2006
POSCO India becomes aggressive for land acquisition
It is reported that POSCO India has set a 1 month deadline for land acquisition and that thereafter it will shift its project site out of Kujang in Orissa. As per reports Mr Tae-Hyun Jeong deputy MD of POSCO India during his visit to Kujang recently told the local Tehsildar that the company would be forced to look for alternative sites for its steel project if land acquisition is not completed within 30 days.
This was the first time POSCO has threatened to relocate their project since signing the MoU with Orissa government on June 22nd 2005 for a mega steel plant. The threat seems to have stemmed from resistance the company is facing from local villagers and some organizations over a year and comes at a time when different organizations have been doing agitations protesting the project, including some activists now sitting on a fast onto death here since about two weeks.
The reports indicate that this pressure tactics have given an immediate jolt to the state government and the administration has galvanized into action, although the issues is difficult to be solved.
JSW Steels crude steel production in Q2 up by 17% YoY
JSW Steel has reported that its production of crude steel at 0.649 million tons during July to September 2006 was 17% YoY higher than 0.553 million tons in Q2 of 2005-06. Its production of pallets during Q2 of 2006 was 1.014 million tons up by 7% as compared to the Q2 of 2005-06.
The production of HR coils at 0.601 million tons in Q2 was 9% higher as compared to corresponding quarter in previous year. There was a marginal drop of 2% in the production of galvanized products at 0.199 million tons as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year at 0.203 million tons.
Mr Seshagiri Rao director finance of JSW Steel stated that With the commissioning of part of the 1.3 million tonnes expansion project and modernization of Hot Strip Mill, the company posted increase in volumes.
SAIL to announce Q2 & H1 results on October 30th
Steel Authority of India Limited will announce the un audited financial results of the company for July September quarter and April to September half on October 30.
SAILs board of directors would take on record the un audited financial results for the half year and second quarter of 2006-07 in a board meeting on October 30th.
JSW Steel to commission slab caster in October
JSW Steel Ltd has announced that under its 1.3 million tonne expansion project coke oven, sinter plant, BF and BOF Shops have been commissioned. The slab caster is expected to be commissioned in October 2006.
This expansion plan will take up the JSWs capacity from current 2.5 million tonnes to 3.8 million tonnes.
JSW Steel Ltd was incorporated in 1994 and has grown to $1.6 billion company over a decade and continues to grow further with these expansions. As per company release it is the Indias third largest steel company with a 12% share of the domestic market.
Indian Railways RCF Kapurthalas Rail Coach Factory hikes production
Indian Railways Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala is planning to hike production by 40% to cater to rising domestic and overseas orders at an investment of Rs 55 crore and is also planning to invest Rs.68 crore for setting up a wheel assembly unit.
Mr Pratap Srivastava GM of RCF & additional member production in the IR board told a visiting media team said As against the installed capacity of 1,000 coaches we are currently producing around 1,200 coaches. We are planning to enhance production capacity to 1,400 with an investment of Rs.550 million.
Mr Srivastava also said that We are gradually shifting towards high end lighter weight stainless steel air conditioned coaches and special purpose coaches including those for exports.
Mr Srivastava told that RCF has decided to test the global market with the aim of pitching itself against international standards. RCF successfully met orders for 36 coaches from Myanmar and 20 chair car coaches from Senegal. It has got orders worth Rs.360 million for 50 additional coaches of different designs from Senegal and Mali.
RCF, which started production in 1987 with technology transfer and purchase of 24 air conditioned coaches from Germanys Alstom-LHB, is now manufacturing coaches based on 13 designs developed by Indian Railways.
Gujarat drops NTPC from Pipavav power plant project
It is reported that the government of Gujarat has decided to have drop JV with NTPC to develop the 1,000MW Pipavav power project citing the progress far from satisfactory and has decided to go with a new strategic partner.
Mr Balwant Singh principal secretary of government of Gujarat has recently sent a letter to Mr T Shankaralingam CMD of NTPC intimating the state government's decision to drop NTPC and go ahead with another strategic partner for executing this power project.
It is understood that NTPC had planned the project based on coal sourcing from domestic mines and its proposal for allocation of captive coal blocks is not likely to be materialize immediately.
A MoU for development of 1500MW power plant was signed in 2004 between NTPC and Gujarat Power Corporation Ltd on 50:50 basis.
Norilsk more than doubles H1 profit
World's largest nickel and palladium miner Russian Norilsk Nickel has reported that its net profits in the first half of 2006 more than doubled due to strong metals prices and that it planned to buy back 4% of its stock. Norilsk posted first-half net profit of $2.367 billion up by 143% YoY as compared to H1 of 2005. First half revenues were $4.191 billion up by 28% over $3.273 billion in H1 of 2005.
Norilsk sold 117,000 tonnes of nickel in the first half of 2006 as against 119,000 tonnes in H1 of 2005, 187,000 tonnes of copper as against 190,000, 336,000 ounces of platinum as against 327,000 ounces a year ago and 1.45 million ounces of palladium as against 1.47 million ounces in H1 of 2005.
Norilsk said in a statement "The main reason for the growth in revenues was a significant increase in the price of non ferrous and precious metals. The inclusion of first quarter results from Polyus Gold, spun off by Norilsk in March, also pushed profits up.
Norilsk shareholders were also set to receive $1.4 billion after the company recommended an interim dividend and a buyback of 7.5 million shares, or 3.93% of its outstanding stock.
Mittal Steel SA commissions its Newcastle coke oven battery
Mittal Steel South Africa has commissioned its new R495 million 450,000 tonnes per year of ferro alloy Coke Oven Battery Number 2 at its Newcastle operations to take the total production of Mittal Steel SA to 870 000 tonnes per year
The Coke Oven Battery was built by a Chinese consortium CITIC-ACRE, a world leader in the construction of coke oven batteries. Bricklaying for the battery started in December and was completed in April 2006. This was followed by the heating up of the battery to an about 1100C, at which it will stay at for its entire life span.
Mr Rick Reato CEO of Mittal Steel SA said that The construction of the battery has been a tremendous success from the planning through to the construction and completion. It has taken us just over two years since this project was first given the green light by the board to completion. The battery is built using state of the art technology which will ensure high and consistent product quality as well as conform to the highest environmental standards.
Mr Yu Zhendong the chairman of CITIC-ACRE said that he was extremely pleased at the level of co-operation the company received from Mittal Steel South Africa and praised the hard work of the employees from CITIC-ACRE consortium.
South Africas total demand is estimated at approximately 1,1 million tonnes per year and commissioning of the this battery, together with imports from Zimbabwe, will now make the local ferro alloy industry almost independent of seaborne coke imports.
Nucor to put special bar mill at Memphis
Nucor Corporation announced that Memphis in Tennessee has been selected as the site for the Special Bar Quality Products steel mill. Construction is expected to begin after satisfactory resolution of regulatory approvals and various contracts. Start up is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2008.
Nucor had announced plans to construct this mill in the southern United States in July 2006.at an investment of approximately $230 million with annual capacity of 850,000 tons. The facility will produce high quality carbon and alloy rounds and round cornered squares from 2.25" to 9" for the automotive, heavy equipment and service center markets.
Mr Daniel R DiMicco chairman, president and CEO of Nucor said "We are looking forward to operating this facility in Memphis and expanding our presence in the southern United States. This growth project provides Nucor with an exciting opportunity to capitalize on a significantly better cost structure compared to key competitors in the Special Bar Quality market, both domestic and foreign. This facility complements our Nebraska and South Carolina SBQ mills and gives us one of the most diverse SBQ product offerings from 7/32" to 9" rounds, all with a minimum of 5:1 reduction ratio.
Mittal Steel SA picks up assets of 2 steel facilities in Mozambique
Mittal Steel South Africa announced that it will acquire from the Mozambique government the plant and equipment of Companhia Siderugica De Mozambique and Companhia Mozambique De Trefiloria for $11.45 million. The purchase is still subject to various legal obligations and operational control will begin as soon as these are met.
Mittal Steel SA has only bought the assets and not the companies as such, and they will now be liquidated. Mittal Steel will invest $10 million to make the factories operational again in about 6 months.
CSM is a rod mill and Trefil a wire drawing facility. Mittal Steel SA plans to increase production of these assets within two years to 72 000 tonnes per annum and 32 000 tonnes per annum respectively.
Mr Rick Reato CEO of Mittal Steel SA said that Investment expansion into sub-Saharan Africa and specifically Mozambique forms a fundamental part of our expansion strategy. We have over the years informed the markets that we will, when the time and asset is appropriate, make acquisitions outside of our borders. We are extremely pleased that this acquisition in Mozambique could be our first.
Mr Antonio Simoess EMM had bought 60% holdings in the companies, when they were privatized a decade and a half ago, but never provided the promised investment as a result of which both stopped functioning. CSM has been completely shut for the past 5 years and Trefil for 1 year. The sale of the CSM and Trefil assets brings in less than half of the $20.4 million that the two companies owe the Mozambican treasury
Gas explosion in Furong coalmine kills 13
Xinhua has reported of an explosion at 3:11 AM on Friday in Furong Coal Mine at Yibin in city in Sichuan province of China's killed 13 miners and injured 7 others.
The mine has a designed annual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes.
As per report, another gas explosion at the Furong mine in December 2001 killed 9 miners.
Iron ore vessel runs aground in stormy weather off Japan
It is reported that 13 crew members of Panamanian registered MV Giant Step, carrying iron ore from Australia to Japan, were washed out to sea after it caught fire and ran aground in stormy weather.
Mr Shu Sasaki an official of Japanese coast guard said that one man was found washed ashore who later died and 3 were rescued and were being treated for minor injuries, while 9 others remained missing.
Another 13 crew members were still trapped aboard the freighter which had almost broken in two and remained stranded about 1.8 kilometers off Kashima port in eastern Japan. Rescue boats couldn't get near the ship because of heavy wind and rain.
The freighter heading to Kashima from Australia contacted Japanese authorities saying a fire had broken out in its cabin area. The ship had initially told Japanese authorities that none of its 26 member crew, 25 Indians and 1 Sri Lankan was injured.
SDI orders walking beam furnace for Columbia City unit
Steel Dynamics Inc has last month placed another order with SMS Meer of Italy for the supply of equipment and services for setting up a 200 short tons per hour walking beam furnace for its works at Columbia City in Indiana. The walking beam furnace is scheduled to go on stream at the end of 2007.
This reheating unit will supply hot beam blanks and blooms measuring 7 x 7 or 10 x 8 and 15 m length to a new medium section mill. It will also have possibility to also produce billets measuring 6 x 6 in the future.
Mozambique Matole terminal doubles traffic in September
It is reported that Mozambique's Matola terminal has more than doubled coal shipments in September 2006 as compared to September 2005 as it loaded 94,084 tonnes of coal during September 2006 and had loaded 40,160 tonnes in September 2005.
Matola also shipped 88,169 tonnes of iron ore during September 2006 as compared to 45,245 tonnes in September 2005.
Matola terminal, situated on the outskirts of Mozambique's capital Maputo, is owned by Grindrod Ltd, South Africa's biggest shipping company.
Techint enters ARP market through Key Technologies
Techint Technologies has announced that due to its collaboration with SAD and KCS which have huge experience and more than 20 ARP plants now in operation all over the world, its Key Technology will be providing acid regeneration plants along with its continuous and push pull pickling lines.
Key Technologies owns the know how of ARP and with its high experience is able to offer the last up to date solutions for hydrochloric acid regeneration by means of both the existing technologies spray roaster and fluidized bed, giving the opportunity to the customers to choose the most suitable solution.
Key Technologies will be operating from Vienna with Mr Giovanni Gallaratias sales director of Techint Technologies as CEO of Key Technologies and Mr Herbert Klausner former GM of SAD and KCS responsible for technology, development and sales.
Techint and Key Technologies are now able to provide all customers with optimized, tailored and updated pickling lines with ARP to reduce environmental impacts and increase the efficiency in the complete Pickling Process.
Dairi zinc project to start construction soon
Herald Resources is likely to start construction work on its $133 million Dairi zinc project in island of Sumatra of Indonesia as only one approval is awaited and the first production is scheduled in the 3rd quarter of 2007.
The underground Dairi mine is expected to produce 300,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate, generating 185,000 tonnes of contained metal per annum. First mining will be from the high grade Anjing Hitam deposit within Dairi. It has minable reserves of 6.6 million tonnes @ 15% zinc and 9% lead for an initial mine life of seven years.
Mr Michael Wright executive director of Herald Resources during the Paydirt Asia Pacific Downunder Conference in Perth last month said that the company had yet to finalize off take agreements and was talking to a wide range of potential customers.
Dairi project is regarded as one of the highest grade undeveloped zinc lead deposits in the world and is 80% owned by Herald, which expects it to generate revenues of $400 to $500 million a year based on current metal prices.
Siemens makes Linz as a global center for the iron & steel activities
After the takeover of Voest Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, the Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group is building up its Linz location as a center for its worldwide iron and steel business. Siemens I&S Group will concentrate all Siemens and VAI's iron and steel activities plus its open cast mining business with effect from October 1, 2006.
Dr Richard Pfeiffer president of Siemens VAI GmbH & Co told media With Siemens VAI, we are continuing the success story of VAI. We will be offering a comprehensive range of solutions for the industry worldwide from metal ore mining to all aspects of iron, steel and aluminum manufacture.
Dr Richard Pfeiffer said The Linz location will be strengthened considerably when the products, solutions and services are bundled and integrated in four subdivisions, namely Mining, Iron & Steelmaking, Rolling & Processing and Metals & Mining Services.
The I&S Metals Technologies division which operates on the market under the name Siemens VAI employs around 7,500 people worldwide.
Arcelor Mittals management profile 23 Mr Gilles Biau
Mr Gilles Biau has been appointed in Arcelor Mittals management committee board last month as Human Resources Group Co-Head.
Mr Gilles Biau, has been Arcelors executive VP Human Resources since July 2005. He held various positions within Arcelors and Usinors flat carbon business, as head of its Centre and Wallonia Operational Units during 2003-2005, as Industrial Operations Manager of Arcelors Flat Carbon Sector during 2002-2003.
Before, he was in charge of industrial operations at Sollac, the flat carbon unit of Usinor, especially at its Florange (France) unit. He joined Sollac in 1971.
Mr Biau is a graduate engineer of the Ecole supieure dElectricitof Paris.
Steel columns for Freedom Tower arrives in US
The first jumbo steel columns for the Freedom Tower weighing a total of 806 tons recently arrived in the at Baltimore in US from Arcelors mill at Differdange in Luxembourg.
This consignment along with two previous loads that arrived at Portsmouth and Camden are being sent to a fabrication yard at Lynchburg in Virginia. There, Banker Steel LLC will weld cover plates to the sides of the steel, forming built up columns that measure up to 42 by 30 inches in cross-section, and weigh upwards of 2,440 pounds per foot.
The fabricated members leaving Lynchburg will eventually comprise the first 27 columns in Freedom Tower's below grade structure and are scheduled to be delivered to the World Trade Center site by the end of the year.
Approximately 50,000 tons of steel in total will be used to build the Freedom Tower. It will soar a symbolic 1,776 feet and include 2.6 million square feet of office space, plus tenant amenity spaces, an observation deck, world class restaurants and broadcast & antennae facilities.
Norilsk increases 2006 CAPEX to $900 million
Intefax has reported that Norilsk Nickel forecasts capital costs of $900 million in 2006 citing Mr Dmitry Usanov investor relations manager.
Norilsk had earlier said that CAPEX would rise to $820 million this year from $751 million in 2005.
Aker to build 4 parcel tankers for Stolt-Nielsen
Europe's largest shipbuilder Norwegian Aker Yards ASA announced a $350 million contract to build 4 ships for the Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group BV of Rotterdam for delivery in late 2008 and early 2009.
The ships will be specially designed parcel tankers with stainless steel cargo tanks. The new ships will be 182.72 meters long, 32.2 meters wide and with deadweight of 43,000 tonnes.
Aker said that construction will be split between its Floroe yard in western Norway and its Damen Shipyards Okean in the Ukraine. The fore & after sections will be built in the Ukraine and the middle sections in Norway, where the ships will be finally completed.
Mr Karl Erik Kjelstad president & CEO of Aker said the contract strengthens his group's position as a builder of specialty tankers.
Aker Yards has 20,000 employees at 17 shipyards in Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Romania and Ukraine.
Kazak Railways move to increase tariff on coal to effect output
Interfax has reported that the raise in coal rail transportation tariffs sought by national rail operator Kazakhaltyn Temir Zholy may lead to significant cutbacks in coal output.
Mr Yuriy Kiselyev GD of Bogatyr Access Komir told Interfax "Rail coal transportation tariff is one of the key priorities and most sensitive issues for our company. In case the tariffs are raised, we will have to talk about cutting down coal production due to raised production costs and increased expenses. That will force us to review the earlier approved programs on modernization and development of the coal open pit.
Mr Kiselyey said "Transport tariff share in the coal price is 55% to 60%, so rail tariffs exert a serious impact on sales and efficiency of our company. Mr Kiselyev also believes that in order to maintain BAK's position on the Russian market the company must offer more competitive terms than Russian coal miners.
Kazak power industry has already expressed its concern about possible multiple rise in railway tariffs on coal transportation from 1st January 2007.
CSC to build separate logistics hub
Taiwan's largest steel maker China Steel Corporation has decided to set aside NT$4 billion to NT$5 billion ($121 million to $156 million) for the development of an iron and steel logistics center in Kaohsiung County of southern Taiwan. CSC plans to build 6 large delivery warehouses, which will constitute a warehousing system separate from the CSC's production facilities.
CSC occupies an area of 551 hectares at its headquarters in Kaohsiung and is feeling squeeze in land area for its expansion plans as large part is occupied by warehouses. CSC hopes to alleviate this problem by setting up two steel logistics centers one each in Kaohsiung and Taichung counties.
The Kaohsiung center will come first and after the Kaohsiung center is completed, the next step will be construction of the second logistics center in Taichung County to serve a proposed new blast furnace being developed there by the Dragon Steel Corp.
