From: International Briquettes Holding, IBH A Subsidiary of Siderúrgica Venezolana SIVENSA S.A. Contacts: Isabel Camejo / Maury Bedoni Investor Relations. Telephones: (02) 707.61.45 / 707. 64.49 Telefax: (02) 707.63.35 / 707. 64.26. E-mail: ir_dept@sivensa.com FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION:

IBH REPORTS THIRD QUARTER 2000 RESULTS

Caracas, July 31, 2000… International Briquettes Holding, IBH, a Sivensa subsidiary engaged in the production and sale of iron ore briquettes, reported sales of US$ 29.6 million for the April-June quarter of 2000, compared to sales of US$ 15.4 for the same period in the preceding fiscal year. The company reported operating income of US$ 2 million and a net gain of US$ 2.9 million. During the comparable period in 1999, the operating loss was US$ 3.5 million and the net loss was US$ 2.7 million. For the three-month period ended June, Venprecar´s production was 218,916 MT, an 8.8% increase when compared to production of 201,232 MT for the same period in fiscal 1999. For the accumulated nine-month period (September 1999-June 2000) IBH´s sales were US$ 65.8 million, with an operating loss of US$ 0.6 million and a net loss of US$ 1.8 million. During the same period in the preceding fiscal year, IBH´s accumulated sales were US$ 31.6 million, the operating loss was US$ 11.7 million and the net loss was US$ 11.0 million. It is worth noting that the result before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved 72% with respect to the immediately preceding quarter (January-March 2000), increasing from US$ 3.0 million to US$ 5.8 million for the quarter ended June. This reflects price and sales volume increases for the Venprecar briquette. For the reported period, however, decreases of approximately 13% were recorded in the price of the different scrap metals that serve as a reference in the metallics market. This did not affect IBH's results as of June due to the fact that most of Venprecar´s sales are through contracts. We expect the effect of the decrease in price for our briquette to show during the next fiscal quarter (July-September). Orinoco Iron During the months of May and June, production tests of trains 2 and 1 of module I of the Orinoco Iron plant were started. Both the physical-chemical characteristics of the briquette and production speed complied with the process's pre-operating standards. The instrumentation equipment for the production trains is currently in an adjustment stage, which is the final step before the start of commercial operations. The start-up of trains 3 and 4 of the second module has been programmed for next August and September, respectively. Orinoco Iron is the largest private investment, outside of the oil industry, currently in Venezuela. The plant uses the Venezuelan FINMET® technology, which uses iron ore fines as raw material. Other direct reduction technologies use pellets and lumps as raw material. The advantage of FINMET® over other technologies is that production costs are lower because it is not necessary to go through the process of pelletizing the fines. International Briquettes Holding (IBH) produces iron-ore briquettes for sale mainly in foreign markets. IBH holds 98.9% of Venprecar and 50% of Operaciones RDI. Its operations are strategically located to take advantage of the low cost of inputs needed to produce HBI such as iron-ore and natural gas. In association with the Australian company, BHP, IBH is currently completing the last phase of a 2.2 million MT/year plant in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela that uses the FINMET® technology.