Operaciones RDI (formerly Fior), with a capacity of 400,000 MT per year, uses iron ore fines as raw material, instead of pellets and lumps. It started operating in 1976 and in 2001, due to the weakening of the prices in that year and the high investments required by the plant, it ceased its productive activities. IBH is currently studying the possibility of resuming its operations. Process The Fior® process is based on the reduction of iron ore to metallic iron at high temperatures and pressure, using reduction gases. The reduction gas used has a high hydrogen content. The most important part of the process is the reactor circuit. First the fines are pre-heated in the pre-heating reactor with the heat of the natural gas combustion in a fluid bed under non-reduction conditions. At a temperature of 750°, the fines flow by gravity to the first of the three reduction reactors and, successively go to the other reactors. The iron ore is reduced when it comes in contact with the ascending reductor gas and reaches a metallization of 92-93% in the last reactor. Here, coal is generated from the reduced iron ore in the form of iron-carbon. Once the reduction process is completed, the hot iron is transferred to the briquetting machines, where it is compacted between the rolls that transform it into briquettes strings. The strings are separated into individual briquettes. The briquettes are cooled and then piled in the open storage yard. The briquettes produced in this process are very inert and have a low tendency to rust.