|
|
South Africa: ASA Metals to Build Two New Furnaces
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Business Day (Johannesburg)
22 February 2008
Posted to the web 22 February 2008
Thabang Mokopanele
Johannesburg
CHROME producer ASA Metals unveiled its expansion programme yesterday, saying the building of two furnaces at its Dilokong chrome mine and smelter in Limpopo would more than double the production of charge chrome.
ASA Metals, which is 60% owned by Chinese state-owned company Sinosteel and 40% by the Limpopo Development Corporation, aims to increase production from 120000 tons a year to 360000 tons .
Chief operating officer Herman Smith said the group exported its chrome, used for stainless steel, to China, Japan, Taiwan, Europe and the US.
ASA Metals has roped in furnace design and engineering company Tenova Pyromet , ferrochrome technology group Outotech and smelting engineering firm Metix to buil d a sinter plant with the furnaces.
Smith would not be drawn on how much the project would cost . The first furnace will take 21 months to complete and the second will take less than two years.
ASA Metals MD Richard Zhang said that once the expansion project was completed, between 2400 and 2500 jobs would be created.
The group generated revenue of R1bn last year and projected it to be R1,5bn or higher this year.
|
Asked if the company would have enough electricity for the project, Zhang said: "Electricity shortage has affected us and we are running at 90% . But Eskom has given us assurance that the project can go ahead ."
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
