|
Caracas, November
2nd, 2000... The Venprecar briquette plant, a subsidiary of International
Briquettes Holding, IBH, achieved its maximum historic production
volume in fiscal year 2000, which ended on September 30,2000,
upon producing 812,504 MT of briquetted iron. This was announced
by the Corporate General Director of Sivensa, Neil Malloy, who
also stated that 81% of the year's sales were destined for the
export markets of Asia, Europe and the United States.
Malloy emphasized
the great marketing effort carried out by management. Although
competition heated up both domestically and abroad, management
was able to place the product in these highly significant markets.
In addition, the plant reached the carbon levels required by the
company's customers and maintained control over the level of chips
generated by the briquettes.
Furthermore,
Malloy stated that the Orinoco Iron plant, where the first two
production trains went into operation in May and June, has achieved
production of 83,000 MT to date, destined for customers in the
United States. "Starting in June, we made various technical adjustments
to increase the reliability of the trains. All the adjustments
made on the first two trains, were incorporated into trains 3
and 4, which are going into operation soon". The plant has four
production trains for a total capacity of 2,200,000 MT/year.
The Orinoco
Iron plant was built jointly by IBH, a Sivensa subsidiary and
the Australian company BHP, through an investment of US$ 900 million.
The plant uses FINMET® (Metalized Fines), a technology originated
in Venezuela. The FINMET® technology has cost advantages over
other iron ore reduction processes, because it uses iron fines
instead of pellets and lumps.
The briquetted
iron is used as a low-residue input at steel mills, thus replacing
high quality scrap.The
IBH briquette plants, located in Puerto Ordaz, take advantage
of the costs offered by the region, which has access, at competitive
prices, to the main inputs: mineral, natural gas and electric
power.
International
Briquettes Holding, IBH (Nasdaq: IBHVF) consolidates the financial
results of Venprecar (815,000 MT/year) and is a 50/50 partner
with The Broken-Hill Proprietary, under which they hold the Orinoco
Iron plant (2,200,000 MT/year), Operaciones RDI (400,000 MT/year)
and the trustee of the intellectual rights of the FINMET® technology,
Brifer.
|
