Business news February 2004

* Midrex Technologies
Midrex Technologies, Inc. of the U.S. and Al-Ghaith Holdings in the United Arab Emirates have signed a pre-engineering contract to start work on a new mini-mill and Midrex Direct Reduction Plant using the industry’s first Hotlink system to feed hot direct reduced iron (HDRI) to the mill.
The new facility, known as Hamil Steel, will be the Middle East’€™s newest electric arc furnace-based mini-mill and will produce approximately 300 000 short tons of steel billets per annum. HDRI will be delivered at over 700 degC to a newly-designed VAI/Fuchs electric arc furnace for the production of high-quality, low-cost liquid steel.
The Hamil Steel DR/EAF venture will be the first in the world to utilise the patented and proprietary Hotlink technology. About half of the HDRI will be fed directly to the EAF and the other half will be delivered to a hot briquetting system for the production of approximately 250 000 tonnes of HBI per annum.
www.midrex.com

* W.A. van Peperzeel
As from November last year, Dutch company W.A. van Peperzeel has taken over the battery collection activities of SITA Metaal Recycling in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The acquisition was made after it was decided that the activities of SITA Metaal Recycling no longer fitted the strategy of the SITA Group. The core activities of Van Peperzeel are the collection, sorting, treatment and recycling of metals, especially batteries. Van Peperzeel is market leader in this field in The Netherlands.
www.peperzeel.nl