Having achieved an advanced level of 93 percent, the El Mutun project (Empresa Siderurgica del Mutun -ESM) will start operations in September, according to CEO Jorge Alvarado Dias.
In a ceremony next to the iron ore mine, in Puerto Suarez when a set of heavy machinery was received, Dias confirmed the startup of the concentration, pelletizing, steel conversion, rolling, and power/ancillary services plants and shared the direct reduction plant will start operations in March 2025.
An earlier production of finished steel products using Brazilian pig iron as feedstock could be considered as Dias has recently visited Siderúrgica Vetorial, an independent pig iron producer located in the Brazilian central western state of Mato Grosso do Sul, to discuss the alternative.
At full pace, ESM will annually produce 200,000 mt of rebars and wire rod and 800,000 mt of iron ore.