Voestalpine is in negotiations to sell a majority stake in its Texas, US-based direct reduced iron plant, Kallanish notes.

The Austrian steelmaking group has over recent months been seeking a partner in order to bolster the business model of the DRI plant, located in Corpus Christi. Since voestalpine only needs part of the hot-briquetted iron production capacity there for its own use, it has considered a strategic partnership in the form of an investment concept.

The firm is thus currently in negotiations to sell 80% of its shares in the plant. The steelmaker plans to secure a long-term agreement for the supply from Corpus Christi of HBI tonnages required in future for the initial decarbonisation step at its Austrian sites.

The HBI plant was commissioned in 2016 to produce up to 2 million tonnes/year of high-quality HBI for customers in the NAFTA region and for voestalpine’s sites in Linz and Donawitz. The project costs amounted to around $1 billion – the initial estimate was $740 million. The increase was attributed to delays caused by a longer period of critical weather conditions during the first phase of the project and significant cost inflation.