Speaking in a panel during the Brazilian steel institute (IABr) congress in Brazil, Sergio Leite de Andrade, the president of the board of directors of Usiminas, said that the company maintains plans for restarting the crude steel production at the Cubatão plant, located in the state of São Paulo.
The crude steel production and the slab caster areas of the plant were idled in 2015, due to the reduced demand for steel products. The rolling activities of the plant were maintained, operating with slab supplied from Usiminas’s Ipatinga plant and other slab producers.
According to Andrade, the basic condition for the restart is the utilization of a carbon neutral technology, in line with the ESG guidelines of the company. Usiminas is reportedly evaluating the utilization of self-reduction pellets as an alternative to restart the blast furnaces of Cubatão.
Self-reduction pellets have the ability to use charcoal produced from biomass wastes and from fast cycle crops, without the utilization of plantation trees.
So far, there is no deadline established for the restarting of crude steel production at Cubatão.
