Iranian mini-mill Khorasan Steel commissioned its first direct reduced iron (DRI) module with an annual production capacity of 800,000 metric tons with a ceremony held last week attended by Ahmad Ali Haratinik, chief of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO). Mr. Haratinik stated at the ceremony that the second module will be commissioned in early 2010.
Khorasan Steel, which currently has an annual steelmaking capacity about 630,000 metric tons, plans to raise its crude steel production to about 1.6 million metric tons per year by upgrading its existing meltshop capacity to 800,000 metric tons and by setting up a new meltshop with a capacity of 800,000 metric tons in the next three years. The contract for the supply of the equipment for the new meltshop has been agreed and the contractor has started the production of the equipment.
The two new DRI plants will feed the two meltshops in question.
Khorasan Steel, a mini-mill with an annual capacity of 630,000 mt of crude steel produced from approximately 720,000 mt of scrap, is located on a site of 1,400 hectares close to the northeastern Iranian city of Neyshaboor. The producer's continuous casting machine can output 630,000 mt of billets per year, while its rolling mill plant has an annual capacity of 550,000 mt of rebar, angles, bars and U-beam.