ArcelorMittal South Africa's (ArcelorMittal SA) Saldanha works, a subsidiary of worldwide steel giant ArcelorMittal, has halted its Corex furnace due to a technical problem which occurred in the unit which produces liquid iron from iron ore and coal.
An ArcelorMittal spokesperson has told SteelOrbis, "ArcelorMittal has not halted production at the Saldanha plant. At the moment, the Saldanha plant is continuing to produce steel by melting scrap in its Conarc furnace. Recovery of the furnace is well underway. We should be back to normal operating conditions soon. The rate will pick up once the Corex furnace is back to normal."
The company has not commented on the amount of production loss caused by the stoppage of the Corex furnace, which has an annual production capacity of 750,000 mt.
Saldanha, an export-focused subsidiary of ArcelorMittal, employs 568 staff and produces hot rolled coils (HRC) at its designed capacity of 1.2 million mt per year. The plant lies centrally between the Americas, Europe and the Far East, where there is strong demand for its products.
In the highly competitive international HRC market, Saldanha has carved a niche for itself in applications requiring HRC in thicknesses of less than 1.6 mm.