CONTRECOEUR, June 15, 2016 – ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada announces a $6.3 million (CAD) investment at the Contrecoeur Reduction Plant. The funds will be used to replace the 160 tubes in reformer “B” in the plant’s module 2 as well as 80 m3 of catalyst contained in these tubes. This investment will allow keeping the plant performance at an optimum level. The plant is where iron oxide pellets coming from Northern Québec are going through a direct reduction process to extract oxygen. Once transformed into metallized iron pellets, they can be used in our Contrecoeur-East and Contrecoeur-West steelmaking furnaces.
It was agreed that the replacement would be done early in 2017 in order to avoid a potential drop in performance if the work was done later next year. “This decision again confirms that ArcelorMittal global management continues to view the reduction plant as a key component of our success,” said Sujit Sanyal, Chief Executive Officer, ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada.
The replacement will be done during an annual shutdown in early spring 2017. The project will have substantial spinoffs in Québec. About $2.2 million will be invested within the province to pay for equipment, installation or services from local suppliers.
In addition to this project, for which some money will be spent in 2016, ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada will use about $37.5 million (CAD) for capital expenditure projects this year. This is in addition to the $220 million allocated to capital expenditures since 2008 for all of Long Products Canada plants. These investments have enabled the Company to maintain its status as a world-class steel producer.
About ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada
ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada’s (long-canada.arcelormittal.com) mission is to safely manufacture sustainable steel in accordance with its values of health and safety, quality, leadership and sustainability. The company employs about 1,700 people in Contrecoeur, Longueuil, Montreal and Hamilton. It operates a scrap-metal recycling and conversion centre, an iron-ore reduction plant, two steel mills, three rolling mills and two wire-drawing mills. The group has an annual production capacity of over 2 million tons of steel and generates economic spinoffs of more than $1 billion per year.
ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada is part of ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading integrated steel and mining company, with a presence in more than 60 countries.