On December 10, Austria-based giant engineering and plantmaking company Siemens VAI Metals Technologies (Siemens VAI) announced that it has successfully brought into operation a new continuous slab caster at Gerdau Açominas, a Brazilian steelmaking company which is a member of the Gerdau Group.
The new slab caster was constructed by Siemens VAI at Gerdau Açominas' Ouro Branco Works, located in the state of Minas Gerais, and allows it to produce 1.5 million mt of high-quality steels for the flat steel market. The caster is equipped with technological packages to ensure product quality and reliable production operations. The acceptance certificate was issued in the middle of October 2009.
While the continuous slab caster for Gerdau Açominas was being constructed, Siemens also supplied an RH (Ruhrstahl-Heraeus) vacuum degassing plant together with the associated electrical and automation equipment. Both plants have been designed so that another degassing vessel and a second casting line can be installed in a later expansion stage. These two projects, which have now been completed, amounted to a cost of US$100 million, and are part of an expansion program for the Ouro Branco Steel Works. The project's objectives were to increase steel production in the works by 50 percent from 3.0 to 4.5 million mt per year.
Gerdau is the leading company in the production of long steels in the Americas and one of the major suppliers of specialty long steel in the world. It has industrial plants in 14 countries, with operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, which, in total, have an installed capacity of more than 20 million mt of steel. It is the largest recycler in Latin America, and reclaims over 16 million mt of scrap worldwide every year.