ArcelorMittal to invest $800M for massive expansion project in Liberia
ArcelorMittal and Liberian President George Weah have announced a 25-year commitment to stay in Liberia. Through the deal, the steelmaker will triple its iron ore production in the country and invest an additional $800 million. The steelmaker said it has invested $1.7 billion in the country over the last 15 years.
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ArcelorMittal invests in Liberia
The steel and mining company had initially signed a 25-year agreement with Liberia in 2005. It shipped the first iron ore from its Yekepa mine in 2011.
During the newly signed first phase of expansion, annual production would reach 15 million tons (MT), with the potential of reaching 30 MT a year, ArcelorMittal Executive Chairman Lakshmi Mittal said at the signing ceremony.
ArcelorMittal will provide the government with a total of $65 million from the production of 15 million MT of iron ore in three years. Since the end of a 1989-2003 civil war, the mining and agriculture potential of Liberia has attracted billions of dollars in resource investments. However, the country’s infrastructure remains underdeveloped and the majority of its 5 million people live in poverty.
Going green
Of late, the UK-headquartered ArcelorMittal has been in the global headlines for its determined drive on the “green steel” and clean energy fronts, joining the trend of steelmakers foraying into green hydrogen and increasing the footprint in renewable power generation.
Just last week, Germany pledged to offer funding of $65 million toward of ArcelorMittal’s investment of 110 million euros ($131 million) in a hydrogen plant powered by renewable electricity.
German Environment Minister Svenja Schultze said Berlin would pay 55 million euros — subject to EU approval — toward a new direct reduced iron (DRI) plant. The plant will use green hydrogen to reduce iron ore in a CO2-free steelmaking process.
By 2025, ArcelorMittal Hamburg’s Chief executive Uwe Braun expects his company to produce 100,000 tons of DRI for steelmaking with green hydrogen from the plant.
ArcelorMittal invests in Indian solar power
Elsewhere, in India, ArcelorMittal plans to invest in solar energy in the Indian provinces of Rajasthan & Gujarat.
According to a report by pv magazine, Group Chairman Lakshmi Niwas Mittal met representatives of the local governments in Rajasthan and spoke of setting up a 4.5 GW solar park at an investment of about U.S. $2,586 million (Rs 19,000 crore) in the province. The plant is to be set up by ArcelorMittal arm HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited.
In another meeting with the Gujarat officials, Mittal also expressed his intention of investing about U.S. $6,809 million in Gujarat’s solar energy, wind energy and hydrogen gas production sectors.
ArcelorMittal currently produces DRI using grey hydrogen, which comes from natural gas. In a green hydrogen system, the hydrogen is produced by using renewable energy sources, like wind or solar power, and then run through an electrolyzer.
ArcelorMittal would have achieved its goal of expanding output to 15 MT per year would have been accomplished much earlier, but the Ebola outbreak in 2014 disrupted its expansion plans in Liberia, for which it declared force majeure.
ArcelorMittal said the project will generate more than 2,000 new jobs during the construction phase.
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