Germany-based plantmaker SMS Group has announced that a consortium consisting of the Iranian companies Chadormalu Mining & Industrial Co. (CMIC) and Parsland Mines & Industries Development Company (PAMIDCO) have erected a new steelmaking plant with a 170 mt electric arc furnace and a six-strand continuous billet caster in Ardakan, province of Yazd, in central Iran.
SMS Concast, a company of the SMS group, delivered the billet caster with an annual output of 1.2 million mt to produce square billets between 130 mm and 250 mm. Chadormalu & PAMIDCO will first produce square billets in the sizes of 130 mm, 150 mm, 180 mm and 200 mm. Considering the plant specification, semi-finished products can be produced in lengths of six or twelve meters. According to SMS Group, the cast billets are primarily meant to fulfill the requirements of the domestic industry but will also be exported to other countries.
The plant in Ardakan is operated on the basis of directly reduced iron ore, which Chadormalu provides from its own mines in the province. The rapid further processing makes it possible to produce comparatively inexpensively. The Iranian steel industry expects a significant increase in demand in the current and the coming years. In the country, the metals industry and the upstream mining industry are regarded as important future industries.
