Korea's Posco, Brazil's Vale to cooperate to make low-carbon steel raw materials

Industry

Published: 02 Aug. 2022, 17:02

Korea's Posco, Brazil's Vale to cooperate to make low-carbon steel raw materials

Lee Joo-tae, left, head of the purchasing and investment division at Posco, and Luiz Meriz, an iron-ore global director at Vale, take a photo after signing an agreement to cooperate on the production of a hot briquetted iron. [POSCO]

Posco and Vale, a Brazilian mining company, signed an agreement to jointly run a project for the production of low-carbon steel raw materials.

Under a non-binding heads of agreement, the two companies will work together to produce hot briquetted iron (HBI), a processed iron obtained by molding reduced iron, an iron ore from which oxygen has been removed, in the shape of briquettes. HBI can be used as a pre-reduced material in blast furnaces or electric arc furnaces.

The two parties will look for a site for an HBI factory, analyze the expenses to operate the plant, and examine ways to reduce carbon emissions in the process of production. All the details about the facility will be decided by the end of the year.

Vale has been supplying major raw materials such as iron ore to Posco for more than 40 years. In 1996, the two companies jointly constructed an iron ore pellet factory in Vitoria, Brazil.

"Posco was able to expand its partnership with Vale, the global steel supplier that is also active in reducing carbon emissions, in the sector of HBI," said Lee Joo-tae, head of the purchasing and investment division at Posco. "We will lead the path to carbon neutrality by discovering ways to stably secure HBI."

The agreement was signed on Monday at Vale's headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with Posco's Lee and Luiz Meriz, an iron-ore global director at Vale, in attendance.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]