The Russian steel and mining company Severstal has acquired a 25.6 percent stake for $17 million in South African mining technology company Iron Mineral Beneficiation Services (IMBS).
The acquisition will allow Severstal to globally roll out the IMBS' patented Finesmelt technology that converts super-fine iron ore into high-quality iron units.
The funds raised from the transaction will be used by IMBS for the construction of the first modular plant with a capacity of 50,000 mt in Phalaborwa the next 18-24 months. The project would involve an investment of from $12 million to $15 million. The plant will convert iron ore fines into metallic briquettes, which supplement ferrous scrap in electric arc furnace steelmaking, and is to take advantage of the 240 million mt magnetite stockpile at Palabora Mining, owned by Rio Tinto and Anglo American, said IMBS CEO John Beachy Head. In the future, the plant's capacity is to be increased to 500,000 mt, and then potentially to two million mt of production of the briquettes per year.
IMBS and Severstal are embarking on a global strategic partnership that will offer the technology to the global 1.3 billion mt a year steelmaking market, which some estimate will grow by 18 percent every five years, doubling by 2030, through the increasing demand for steel in the emerging markets of China, India, Russia and Brazil.