Kunming Iron & Steel (Kungang), a subsidiary of Baowu Group, has started construction of a steelmaking and continuous casting plant as part of its relocation project, Kallanish notes.

The steelmaking and casting plant will build two 120-tonne converters with 2.8 million tonnes/year capacity, as well as a 2.6m t/y iron ore pellet production line. It will also add one 950,000 t/y Steckel mill, one 800,000 t/y wire rod line and two wire drawing lines with 550,000 t/y and 450,000 t/y capacity respectively.

With a total investment of over CNY 12 billion ($1.75 billion), the whole relocation project will reach 5.4m t/y of steel capacity after commissioning in 2021, according to Kungang. The company started construction of one 2,500m³ blast furnace of the relocation project last month, which has an iron design capacity of 2.13m t/y (see Kallanish passim).