Displaying items by tag: ArcelorMittal

Luxembourg: ArcelorMittal’s sales fell by 2% year-on-year to US$38.5bn in the first half of 2019 from US$39.2bn in the same period in 2019. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 43% to US$3.21bn from US$5.59bn. Crude steel production volumes rose by 3% to 47.8Mt from 46.5Mt.

"After a strong 2018, market conditions in the first half of 2019 have been very tough, with the profitability of our steel segments suffering due to lower steel prices combined with higher raw material costs,” said Lakshmi N Mittal, ArcelorMittal’s chairman and chief executive officer (CEO). He added that the company had recued its production capacity in Europe in responses to global overcapacity.

Luxembourg: ArcelorMittal plans to reduce its European steel production levels due to weak market demand and high import levels. It will reduce primary steelmaking production at its facilities in Dunkirk, France and Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany. Reduce primary steelmaking production at its facility in Bremen, Germany in the fourth quarter of 2019, where a planned blast furnace stoppage for repair works will be extended. It will extend the stoppage planned in the fourth quarter of 2019 to repair a blast furnace at its plant in Asturias, Spain.

“This is again a hard decision for us to have taken but given the level of weakness in the market, we feel it is the prudent course of action. This will be a temporary measure that will be reversed when market conditions improve. In the meantime, our employees remain our utmost priority and we are doing everything we can to ensure that the right social measures are in place to support them and their families during this difficult time,” said Geert van Poelvoorde, the chief executive officer (CEO) of ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products.

In early May 2019 ArcelorMittal announced its intention to temporarily idle production at its steelmaking facilities in Kraków, Poland and reduce production in Asturias, Spain. The announcement also impacted the planned increase of shipments at ArcelorMittal Italia to a 6Mt/yr run-rate. The planned increase will be slowed down following a decision to optimise cost and quality over volume in the current market environment.

Brazil: Harsco’s Metals & Minerals division has won a 10-year contract worth US$150m with ArcelorMittal Tubarao, a subsidiary of ArcelorMittal. The deal includes services such as meltshop cleaning, slag handling and crushing, metal recovery and drop ball services.

“We are excited to extend our long association with ArcelorMittal Tubarao for another 10 years,” said Harsco Metals & Minerals chief operating officer Russ Mitchell. “This agreement is key to maintaining our strong strategic presence in Latin America, and it underpins our commitment to our customer by delivering value and adding solutions with the highest quality and safety standards.”

ArcelorMittal Tubarao is one of the largest integrated steel mills in Brazil, with a production capacity of 7.5Mt/yr. It is a leading producer of flat carbon steel, used extensively in the manufacture of automobiles and household appliances. Located on the Vitória harbour, ArcelorMittal Tubarao is well connected to iron ore mines through railroads.

France: Eiffage, via its Eiffage Route subsidiary, and Phoenix Services have secured a new contract with ArcelorMittal, through SGA, their joint subsidiary for the removal and processing of by-products from the Dunkirk steelworks, the recovery of metal parts and the recycling of slag. This contract, worth an estimated Euro155m over 10 years, will come into effect on 1 December 2018.

The services to be provided entail collecting approximately 1Mt/yr of liquid slag, removing its iron content by a process already agreed in an earlier contract signed in 2004 and recycling it for embankments, agricultural uses and the manufacture of hydraulic binder marketed by Eiffage under the Sidmix brand. At least 75 personnel will be mobilised on a 24 hour per day basis to guarantee the removal of the slag from the steelmaking facility.

France: Ecocem France has inaugurated its 0.75Mt/yr slag cement grinding plant in Dunkirk. The unit, located near ArcelorMittal’s Dunkirk steel plant, started commercial production in May 2018. The site has plans to expand production to 1.4Mt/yr at a later date. It has created 26 jobs.

The plant is located in the Port of Dunkirk. It includes a vertical mill, a mixer and silos. The site is intended to target markets in northern France, the UK and Northern Europe. Plans to export 0.25Mt/yr of ground slag to the UK via terminals in London and Liverpool and 50,000t to Sweden have already started.

Ecocem France is a joint venture between Ireland’s Ecocem and ArcelorMittal. Ecocem invested Euro37m in the project in Dunkirk. It follows Ecocem France’s opening of its 0.7Mt/yr grinding plant at Fos-sur-Mer, also near to an ArcelorMittal plant

France: ArcelorMittal plans to increase its stake in Ecocem France to 49% from 30% by the end of May 2018. The transaction is subject to the approval of the Irish Competition Authority. The French subsidiary of Ireland’s Ecocem was set up in 2007 by ArcelorMittal and Ecocem Materials.

Ecocem produces slag cement from ground granulated blast furnace slag. Ecocem France operates a 0.7Mt/yr grinding plant at Fos-sur-Mer near to an ArcelorMittal plant. It plans to open a second 0.7Mt/yr grinding plant at Dunkirk in May 2018. The new plant is intended to target western and northern France as well as export markets in the UK and Belgium.

Poland: Primetals Technologies has received a provisional acceptance certificate (PAC) from ArcelorMittal Poland for the replacement of the second LD (Basic Oxygen Furnace) converter at the Dąbrowa Górnicza steel works. The converter entered service in February 2018. It follows a previous project by Primetals Technologies to replace a converter at the site in 2016.

As in the case of Converter #1, Primetals Technologies supplied the vessel and the trunnion ring, including the Vaicon Link 2.0 suspension, for Converter #3. The converter bearings and the enclosure have also been renewed. The order included also removal of the existing vessel and assembly and installation of the new equipment. This had been handled by ZKS Ferrum, the Polish partner in the consortium.

ArcelorMittal Poland is the leading steel producer in Poland, operating six production plants in the south of the country. Its range of products includes profiles, rails, fittings for the construction, transport and mining industries, as well as flat products for the automotive industry and domestic appliances.

Czech Republic: A project by ArcelorMittal Ostrava substituting the primary raw materials for steelmaking with specially processed recycled slag has been ranked fourth in a government competition promoting the use of waste by-products as resources. The Ministry of Industry and Trade ran the competition that received 127 entries. Project manger Jitka Halamová attended the award ceremony on behalf of the steel producer.

“Since we've been using a special technology to sort the slag to end up a with higher iron content and a lower level of phosphorus, we have been able to reuse that slag in our operations in much higher amounts than before. Thanks to that, we are able to save iron ore, additives and fuel and, at the same time, we don’t accumulate large amounts of waste on our premises,” said Halamová.

The new technique mechanically processes the 0-8mm steel slag that contains 35 - 40% of iron. This has enabled ArcelorMittal Ostrava to increase the slag’s iron content to 54 - 57%, while keeping the phosphorus content low enough to reuse the enriched slag in the sintering process, replacing iron ore, additives and fuel in production. Using slag in this way increases the sustainability of the business’ operations and offers economic benefits. In 2016 ArcelorMittal Ostrava recycled on average 1900t/month of enriched slag and in the process saved a total of over US$0.87m.

Brazil: ArcelorMittal Tubarão and Usiminas have been nominated in the Steelie Awards for a steel slag rural road-building project. The steel makers have been put forward for the Excellence in sustainability category of the eight edition of the awards organised by the World Steel Association. The winners will be revealed at the annual dinner of the 2017 General Assembly of the association in Brussels, Belgium on 16 October 2017.

ArcelorMittal’s research and development department developed its Revsol and Revsol Plus products, which turn steel slag into a primary road, car park and storage yard coating, replacing the use of non-renewable sources in road building. The manufacturers say that the product also reduces the need for road maintenance.

France: ArcelorMittal has discussed the role of slag in the circular economy at a recent media event in Paris. Alan Knight, head of corporate responsibility, described how steel plays a key role in the circular economy, at a time when the European Union is debating its Circular Economy Package, which includes revised legislative proposals on waste. He detailed a number of projects at ArcelorMittal that are using waste created during the steelmaking process including turning steelmaking slag into agricultural fertiliser as well as making bioethanol to fuel aeroplanes from waste gases created during the steelmaking process.

“At ArcelorMittal we are active in being involved in a number of different partnerships that look to more fully utilise and exploit the potential from re-using by-products and waste gases. We are fully supportive of the concept of carbon capture and utilisation and convinced that this offers an important long-term opportunity for the reduction of CO₂,” said Knight.

Key topics discussed at the event included the effects of Chinese steelmaking overcapacity upon the European industry. David Clarke, ArcelorMittal’s head of strategy and chief technology officer, said that imports of steel are effectively ‘swallowing’ up a slow increase in European steel consumption since the market crash in 2009. However, Europe Flat Products chief executive officer Geert Van Poelvoorde added that the European steel industry could prosper under the right legislative framework.