A consortium of investors is spending ZAR 40 million to reopen a mothballed furnace in Krugersdorp, South Africa for a stainless steel scrap recycling business. The project is sited at a former ferrochrome plant which had been operated by Samancor. The plant will smelt stainless steel plant dust and other waste, recovering nickel and chromium and forming this into an alloy for recycling through the stainless steel making process. A mothballed furnace has been refurbished for ferrochromium operation at a capital cost of less than ZAR 20 million Up to a further ZAR 20 million will be needed to re-engineer part of the plant to accommodate the feed system for the stainless steel wastes. The furnace was recommissioned in March this year, and by early April had reached steady-state operation at full power. It is currently producing high purity ferrochromium, marketed by Samancor, and will switch to dust treatment in the fourth quarter of this year. The plant will initially process about 30,000 tpy, which will amount to an alloy production of about 18,000 tons. An agreement has been entered into with the Columbus JV for the supply of their stockpiled dust and waste materials. The plant will also produce limited quantities of ferrochrome for Samancor.
