Brazilian-based Vale SA Tuesday began construction on Acos Laminados do Para (ALPA), a steel mill located in the Maraba Industrial District of Pala, in northern Brazil. According to Vale, the mill will have the capacity to produce 2.5 million mt of steel slabs. Slab production is slighted to begin in 2013.
A portion of the slabs will be allocated to a joint-venture rolling mill with Aco Cearense, enabling production of approximately 710,000 hot rolled, cold rolled, and galvanized products annually.
Last week Vale announced a joint venture with German-based ThyssenKrupp for ThyssenKrupp CSA Siderúrgica do Atlântico, the largest private investment undertaken in Brazil in the last 15 years. Vale is responsible for supplying the iron ore to be used by the steel mill complex, through a 15-year contract signed with ThyssenKrupp. This is the longest contract ever signed by the mining company.
Currently, Vale's total steelmaking projects involve a company investment of $US 21 billion, and combined, when all are fully up and running, will add approximately 18.5 million tons of steel annually to Brazil's total domestic steel production.