Economy
ArcelorMittal Selling Point Lisas Plant in Trinidad and Tobago
June 12, 2023
TT Iron Steel Co. Ltd. (TTIS) has signed an agreement to acquire the ArcelorMittal Point Lisas iron and steel plant in Trinidad and Tobago.
Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by Trinidad and Tobago’s government, TTIS said in a release on June 7. The company said initial refurbishment and restart of the plant is expected to cost $150-200 million over the next two years, with further investment required thereafter.
Further details of the transaction were not provided.
The plant is one of the largest steel mills in the Americas that utilizes natural-gas-based, direct-reduced Iron (DRI) technology with electric-arc furnaces for steelmaking, according to TTIS.
ArcelorMittal shuttered the plant in 2016.
“We believe there is great potential for the plant to return to the forefront of global steelmaking technology and performance,” TTIS founder, president, and CEO Gus Hiller said in the release
The plant has historically used natural gas, but TTIS intends to transition to green hydrogen in the next few years as it becomes commercially available. This will reduce the plant’s carbon intensity to 0.4 metric tons of CO2 per metric ton of steel made.
After the restart, the facility “will be the largest recycling operation in the Caribbean consuming scrap and waste tires generated in Trinidad and Tobago to make steel products,” TTIS said on its website.
TTIS commented that more than 1,000 jobs will be created during the refurbishment and start-up phase and, when fully operational, it will create long term employment for 500 skilled workers.
By Ethan Bernard, ethan@steelmarketupdate.com
Latest in Economy
ArcelorMittal plans wire-drawing closure in Hamilton, shifts production to Montreal
ArcelorMittal’s (AM) Hamilton location to be shuttered, wire production shifting to Montreal.
Beige Book finds growing economic, policy uncertainty
All districts reported "hesitancy and a cautious approach to business and household decisions,” according to the Beige Book.
ISM: Manufacturing continues to contract in May
May marks the third consecutive month US manufacturing activity declined, according to supply executives contributing to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM)’s latest report.
Chicago PMI decreases 4.1 points in May
The Chicago Business Barometer reports that decreases in new orders, order backlogs, and softer production pulled the index down by 4.1-points to 40.5, in May.
Architecture firms struggle through April
For the third month in a row, architecture firms reported a reduction in billings through April, according to the latest Architecture Billings Index release.