SteelOrbis Shanghai
Chinese steelmaker Kunming Iron & Steel Corp. has obtained the approval of the Laos government to implement two projects, worth a combined total of over $200 million, in the Laotian capital city of Vientiane. One of the projects involves the setting up of an iron ore mining joint venture, while the other concerns the establishment of an integrated steel mill. The Laos government will also exempt Kunming Steel from taxes for the first five years of the investments. In the three-year period following the first five years, Kunming Steel will only pay 50 percent of taxes.
Laos Investment & Planning Commission has provided Kunming Steel with two separate "foreign investment permits." The first permits allows Kunming Steel to invest $33 million in setting up an iron ore mining joint venture company named "Laos Wanrong Mining Corporation" in collaboration with First Pacific Mining Lao Co. Ltd. Meanwhile, the second permit enables Kunming Steel to jointly set up a 500,000 mt per annum capacity integrated iron and steel mill with Laos CK Export & Import Co. (Group), at the cost of an investment of $168 million.