Turkish steel producer Ereğli Demir ve Çelik (Erdemir) has announced that it has detected ore mineralization at its subsidiary Erdemir Madencilik’s (Ermaden) iron ore mine field in Avnik, Bingöl, and has decided to build a pelletizing plant.
The total iron ore reserves are around 250-300 million mt and the investment cost will be approximately $550 million. The pelletizing plant, which will have an annual pellet production capacity of 3 million mt, will produce more than 100 million mt of pellets based on the iron ore reserves in question.
According to pre-feasibility assessments, it is expected that the profit increase to be obtained from the operations at today’s prices will be about $200-250 million annually.
The company predicts that its self-sufficiency rate in pellets will increase from 25-30 percent to 80-85 percent, and in total ferrous raw materials its self-sufficiency rate will increase from 15-20 percent to 40-45 percent. In addition, Erdemir aims to contribute to the domestic economy by reducing the use of imported pellets.