First Blast Furnace in Brazil

Jang Se-wook, vice chairman of Dongkuk Steel, is firing up a blast furnace in the Pecem industrial complex in Ceara, Brazil on June 10 (local time).
Jang Se-wook, vice chairman of Dongkuk Steel, is firing up a blast furnace in the Pecem industrial complex in Ceara, Brazil on June 10 (local time).

 

Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., which has succeeded in improving its structure in two years, has fired up a blast furnace which was the long-cherished desire from the founder.

The company announced on June 11 that it has started the operation of Companhia Siderurgica do Pecem (CSP) steel mill located in the Brazilian state of Ceara on the 10th (local time).

Accordingly, Dongkuk Steel has become the first domestic company to operate a blast furnace in Brazil, marking the third time for a South Korean steelmaker to own a blast furnace.

The plant has an open-storage area for materials, sintering plant, iron making plant, steelmaking plant and continuous casting plant as well as a blast furnace. The state government of Ceara and the Brazilian federal government invested US$700 million (816.2 billion won) in infrastructure, such as port, power plant, substation, road and water, to support the shipment of products.

Since making the first investment in 2005, Dongkuk Steel has been focused its capability to establish the CPS plant for over 10 years. The company kicked off the construction in July 2012 with a total of US$5.5 billion (6.41 trillion won) invested in. The number of workers reached up to 10,000 a day. The company originally planned to hold a furnace "lighting" ceremony in December last year, but the operation was seven months behind the schedule due to infrastructure construction delays.



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