Flacks Group has renewed its bid for the future of Acciaierie d'Italia with an updated plan centred on the creation of Flacksider, a new company in which the US investment group is seeking the participation of the Italian state and two industrial partners.
According to local sources, the proposal is intended to preserve operations at the Taranto site during the transition, while gradually replacing the existing production route with facilities based on direct reduced iron technology and electric arc furnaces. The project also includes the environmental remediation of the industrial area and the continuation of downstream operations using externally sourced semi-finished products.
Once fully operational, the new configuration is expected to reach a production capacity of around 4 million metric tons per year of low-emission steel. The transition would take place gradually, with the blast furnaces currently in operation being progressively phased out.
Key details remain to be clarified
Flacks had previously named Italian plantmaker Danieli and Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest among the potential industrial partners involved in the project. According to the information available, Danieli has confirmed its participation, while Metinvest has not issued any official statement.
Several elements of the proposal have yet to be clarified, including the final ownership structure, the extent of any state participation, the financing required and the investment timetable.
The US group maintains that the plan would limit the employment impact of the transition by gradually bringing direct employees back into production and supporting the recovery of activities among contractors and other companies in the local supply chain. According to Flacks, any workforce reduction would be confined to the initial transition period and would be reversed once the new facilities begin operating.
Flacks positions its plan against Jindal proposal
The proposal is being presented as an alternative to the project attributed to Jindal Steel International. Flacks argues that the competing option would reduce primary steel production in Taranto and turn the plant mainly into a re-rolling hub supplied with semi-finished products from abroad.
According to local sources, the Italian government and the extraordinary commissioners are continuing discussions with Jindal over the possible operation of Acciaierie d'Italia's assets. The Indian group's plan is understood to involve greater use of imported slabs, potentially produced at a future facility in Oman.
Both industrial options remain under assessment. The full terms of the proposals and the related guarantees have not yet been made public.
Court ruling adds urgency to Taranto talks
Flacks' renewed initiative comes at a particularly sensitive time for the Taranto plant, following recent court decisions concerning the hot-end facilities.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, the Milan Court of Appeal ordered the suspension of hot-end operations within 90 days unless the environmental issues identified in its ruling are addressed. Any restart would be conditional on the complete removal of asbestos still present at the plant and the implementation of measures capable of bringing fine particulate emissions within acceptable safety limits.
Against this backdrop, Flacks argues that the risk of a blast furnace shutdown makes it necessary to identify quickly a model capable of maintaining operational continuity during the plant's conversion.
Federacciai criticises requirements for Taranto's hot-end facilities
Antonio Gozzi, president of Federacciai, has also commented on the consequences of the ruling. In a statement sent to SteelOrbis on July 27, Gozzi argued that the requirements imposed on the former Ilva facilities would be technically incompatible with blast furnace operations. “Requiring the removal of asbestos from a blast furnace's hot-blast stoves means imposing a condition that is incompatible with the technology of the plant itself: it is like expecting a car to run without an engine,” the Federacciai president stated.
According to Gozzi, applying the same criteria to other European plants would force the continent's blast furnaces to shut down. The head of the Italian steelmakers' association described the situation as unfairly penalising the domestic industry, arguing that this interpretation of the rules would effectively make integrated steel production impossible.
“Protecting public health is a non-negotiable priority, but it cannot result in technically unworkable requirements that put a strategic sector for the country at risk,” Gozzi added. In his view, the ruling would effectively amount to closing the plant, with serious consequences for thousands of workers, their families and the entire Italian steel supply chain.
The comments reflect Federacciai's position in the ongoing debate and form part of the broader discussion over how to reconcile continued production, health protection and the environmental upgrading of the Taranto site.
Decision now rests with Italian authorities
The Flacksider proposal has brought the future industrial structure of the Taranto site back to the centre of the debate. One option would preserve primary steelmaking capacity through new DRI and electric furnace facilities, while the other would place greater emphasis on downstream processing and the use of imported semi-finished products.
The final decision will rest with the Italian government and the extraordinary commissioners, which will be required to assess the financial strength of the bids, the feasibility of the investments, their employment impact and their compatibility with environmental requirements.
