Outokumpu Doubling Tornio Ferrochrome Capacity - Europe
Outokumpu has initiated a construction program to double ferrochrome production capacity at its Tornio Works in Finland. The €420-million program will lift the Tornio plant’s annual ferrochrome capacity to 530,000 mt. The new capacity is scheduled to come on line during the first quarter of 2011.
The Tornio ferrochrome smelter is located adjacent to Outokumpu’s stainless steel mill and will make the company “comfortably self-sufficient in terms of its primary chromium,” according to the company. The ferrochrome smelter processes ore from the adjacent Kemi chromium mine.
Because the ferrochrome smelter is located at the same site as the stainless steel mill, ferrochrome can be transferred to the mill’s melt shop in liquid form, foregoing the re-melting that is required at most stainless steel mills. This, said Outokumpu, gives the Tornio Works an exceptional cost advantage. Also, the carbon monoxide emanating from the Tornio ferrochrome process is used as fuel in the stainless steel mill, reducing the plant’s need for external energy.
The market price of ferrochrome has increased substantially in recent years due to increased demand from the stainless steel industry and, more recently, due to production constraints relating mainly to the availability of electricity in South Africa, which produces more than half of the world’s ferrochrome.
Outokumpu CEO Juha Rantanen said, “Doubling our ferrochrome production is an exceptionally attractive and profitable project. Already, Outokumpu Tornio Works is the most integrated stainless steel mill in the world. We have estimated that, with current prices, the expansion will bring additional annual operating profits in the order of €200 million.”