A few weeks after announcing the shutdown of Empresa Siderurgica del Mutun (ESM) until it reaches an agreement with a foreign partner to develop its Mutun iron and steel complex, the Bolivian government has disclosed this week an expected deadline for the nation’s $440 million project.
At a meeting with investors in New York this week, Bolivia’s minister of mining, Cesar Navarro, said the Mutun iron and steel complex should start-up by 2019. The government official said the building and the implementation of the complex and all its plants should take 36 months.
ESM is currently analyzing two proposals to build a non-flat finished steel plant at its Mutún iron ore and steel complex.
Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering Co and Henan Complant presented different proposals for the project. Sinosteel proposed a $388 million investment for the non-flat finished steel mill, while Henan said the development of the project would cost about $442.1 million, including a gas pipeline stretch as well as a steel pipe.
A commission is expected to evaluate the two proposals until October 29, when the company, which will develop the project, will be known.
The nation’s ministry of mining, Cesar Navarro, said a contract with the elected company is likely to be signed on November 10 in Puerto Suarez.
ESM expects to meet up to 60 percent of the country’s demand for steel. Bolivian imports of iron and steel have surged by 343 percent in the past 10 years, according to information released recently by the country’s institute of foreign trade, IBCE.