Original news was published on 19 June, 2014
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted a construction permit to Austria’s Voestalpine Group for a US$740 million iron production plant in San Patricio County, Texas.
The voestalpine Texas plant is being constructed at the La Quinta Trade Gateway Terminal near Corpus Christi, the Austrian company said in a statement.
“We investigated 17 locations in eight countries for this project. In the end, Texas was the most promising on all key criteria, such as logistics, energy supply, well-trained employees, and political environment,” Wolfgang Eder, CEO of voestalpine and head of voestalpine’s steel division said.
The plant will produce two million tons of hot briquetted iron (HBI) and direct reduced iron (DRI) annually for export to Austria, specifically voestalpine plants in Linz and Donawitz. Construction will include use of 20,000 tons of constructional steel and 13,000 tons of mechanical equipment.
Voestalpine said the project is its biggest foreign investment and will enable it to reduce production costs in Europe.
Production will begin in 2016.
*NEWS SOURCE
