From STEEL GRIPS online business news ThyssenKrupp´s Brazilian steel mill sees opening ceremony Jun 18, 2010 Top view of ThyssenKrupp CSA´s blast furnace in Sepetiba bay June 18th, 2010, ThyssenKrupp CSA Siderúrgica do Atlântico celebrates the opening of the Santa Cruz works, Rio de Janeiro/Brazil. This ceremony put an end to the construction phase which had once started September 2006, when the foundation stone was laid on the 9 km² site in Sepetiba bay. Key to the choice of location were cost and transport advantages, the latter especially as far as the availability of iron ore from the mines operated by Vale in the Minas Gerais region is concerned. Vale is co-owner of ThyssenKrupp CSA with a 26.87-% stake. The new integrated steel mill finally costs 5.2 billion Euro, thus representing the biggest industrial investment in Brazil in the past ten years. Additionally, it is the first major steel mill built in the country since the mid-1980s. The project includes the construction of a state-of-the-art plant complex with its own port terminal for importing coal and exporting the slabs, raw material handling facilities, coking plant, sintering plant, two blast furnaces, a BOF melt shop and a power plant. During construction it was taken care of that stringent European environmental standards are met. After start-up, the plant is expected to produce 5 million t of high-quality low-cost slabs. 3 million t are scheduled to be supplied to the processing plant currently under construction near Mobile, Alabama/USA. Another 2 million t are intended to go to ThyssenKrupp's plants in Germany, where they will be processed for customers in Europe. Aerial view of the new steel mill near Santa Cruz "An important milestone in ThyssenKrupp's global growth strategy is now ready for ramp-up," Dr. Ekkehard Schulz, Executive Board Chairman of ThyssenKrupp AG, told STEEL GRIPS. "Despite the global crisis, we stuck to our plans for our two major projects in Brazil and Alabama, where the slabs produced here will be further processed. We were always sure we had made the right decision. We want to not just maintain but expand our leading position in the global market for high-quality flat-rolled carbon steel," he continued. Vale's CEO Roger Agnelli confirmed: "Our aim is to promote the growth of steel making production in Brazil, creating wealth and sustainable development. CSA is the concrete manifestation of this". During the construction phase more than 30000 people were employed on the construction site. When the steel mill is in operation, the company will provide 3500 jobs, which will mostly be filled by Brazilian employees. The number of indirect jobs created by the investment is expected to be four times as high. -> view video showing ThyssenKrupp CSA project © Copyright 2007 by GRIPS media