Russian miner and steelmaking group, Metalloinvest says it has begun the active phase of building and installing its third hot briquetted iron plant, HBI-3, at Lebedinsky GOK (LGOK) in Gubkin, Belgorod region. The project aims to strengthen the group’s position on the global high added-value iron ore resources market.

HBI-3 will have annual capacity of 1.8 million tonnes, making it the world’s largest HBI production facility, the company says. It is now expected to be commissioned in 2017, a Metalloinvest spokesman tells Kallanish. Late 2013, LGOK was said to be producing HBI at a rate of 2.4m t/y.

The plant is being supplied by a consortium of Siemens VAI and Midrex, at a total cost of roughly $850 million – based on 2013 prices and rouble currency rates, Metalloinvest adds.

HBI has a metallisation degree of more than 90% and a density exceeding 5g/cm3, which makes it the ideal material for steel production both in electric-arc furnaces and converters, explains Metalloinvest. Briquettes have a low impurity content, so are well-suited to transport by rail or sea, and HBI production is twice as energy-efficient as hot iron production, the Russian group claims: “During production, greenhouse gas emissions are almost twice as low as the traditional blast furnace method.”

“LGOK is the only plant in the CIS, and one of the few worldwide, that produces concentrate, pellets and HBI,” adds Oleg Mikhailov, LGOK’s managing director.