Mittal Steel South Africa has announced plans to construct two new Direct Reduction (DR) kilns at its Vanderbijlpark plant at a cost of ZAR 600 million ($82 million) in an effort to boost its annual liquid steel capacity by approximately 250,000 mts. With the new kilns, the numbers of kilns at Vanderbijlpark will increase to six.
Commenting on the project, Rick Reato, CEO of Mittal Steel South Africa, said, "We have seen tremendous growth in demand from the local steel market especially as a result of the government's expanded public works program. In order to meet this demand, in 2004 as part of Mittal Steel South Africa's growth strategy, we identified the need to increase capacity at Vanderbijlpark with the addition of two new kilns...These additional kilns will not only enable us to add value to our local raw materials, but allow us to capture the growth of the South African domestic market and reduce the market's reliance on imported material."