Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal has announced that it has acquired an 80 percent share in Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine’s hot briquetted iron (HBI) plant in Corpus Christi, Texas for $1 billion. Voestalpine will retain the remaining 20 percent.
The plant has an annual capacity of two million mt of HBI, a high-quality feedstock made through the direct reduction of iron ore which is used to produce high-quality steel grades in an electric arc furnace, but which can also be used in blast furnaces, resulting in lower coke consumption.
Part of Voestalpine’s further participation was to be an agreement on the long-term securing of the HBI volume required in the future for the first decarbonization step at the sites in Linz and Donawitz, as SteelOrbis previously reported. Therefore, ArcelorMittal has also signed a long-term offtake agreement with Voestalpine to supply an annual volume of HBI. The remaining balance of production will be delivered to third parties under existing supply contracts, and to ArcelorMittal facilities, including to AM/NS Calvert in Alabama.