Austria-based steelmaker voestalpine has announced that it has signed a supply agreement with Siemens Industry Inc. and its consortium partner Midrex Technologies Inc. for the construction of the new direct reduction iron (DRI) plant to be located in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Production is scheduled to start in early 2016 and around half of the planned annual output of two million mt of hot briquetted iron (HBI) will be supplied to the company's Austrian steel plants in Linz and Donawitz. The other half will be sold to partners interested in a supply over the long term.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, in May voestalpine signed a memorandum of understanding with Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA), Mexico's largest steel manufacturer, according to which from 2016 onwards the latter will source several hundred thousand tons of high quality HBI annually from voestalpine's new plant in Texas for its mill in Monclóva.
