Iranian mill Khorasan Steel produced 135,002 mt of crude steel in the first quarter of the current Iranian year (started on March 21 this year), up 12 percent on the 121,502 mt produced in the same period last year - according to newly published figures from the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO).
Khorasan Steel, a mini-mill with an annual capacity of 650,000 mt of crude steel produced from approximately 722,000 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, though currently it just produces rebar.
Currently, this producer is constructing two direct reduced iron (DRI) modules, each with an annual capacity of 800,000 mt of sponge iron. Khorasan Steel is planning to commission one of the DRI modules in question, which will use Midrex direct reduction technology, in August, while its second DRI module is expected to be commissioned in January 2010. The company is also upgrading its existing meltshop, which already has a capacity of 650,000 mt per year.
In addition, Khorasan Steel is planning to build another meltshop with a capacity of 720,000 mt of crude steel per year.