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Scoring Goals in Brazil: Essa to Supply Samplers to Massive New Steel Plant

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Scoring Goals in Brazil: Essa to Supply Samplers to Massive New Steel Plant

News Article | 2 October 2009

Essa do Brasil Ltda has just been awarded a significant contract to design, supply and install two automated bulk material sampling systems at ThyssenKrupp's massive new integrated steel slab plant located at Baia Sepetiba, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The contract value is approximately 1.5 million Brasilian Reals.

When operating in 2010, it is planned that five million tonnes of steel per annum will be produced at this plant. It is the first large steel mill built in the country since the mid-1980s and the largest industrial investment the Latin American country has seen for a decade. Building this new plant ThyssenKrupp describes as being a "once-in-a-century event".

At full operating capacity, this plant will employ some 3,500 people and the total investment in the plant to date is approaching 4 billion Euros. Sixty percent of the plant’s output will be exported to North America and forty percent processed at ThyssenKrupp's plants in Germany, where they are investing 400 million Euros to expand their value-adding processing and coating lines.

The mill, situated on a nine square kilometre site on Sepetiba Bay, will include two blast furnaces, a meltshop with two converters and two continuous casters, all meeting the latest Brazilian and European environmental standards.

The mill is to be built together with the Brazilian iron ore producer Vale.

Essa do Brasil has been working closely with ThyssenKrupp Fordertechnik staff in Belo Horizonte to retrofit falling stream sampling systems to recently completed materials handling systems which were originally designed to accommodate cross belt samplers. Both ThyssenKrupp and their raw material supplier, however, acknowledge the benefits of a correctly designed falling stream sampling system over cross belt samplers. Hence the opportunity arose for Essa to become involved in the project.

In order to meet the technical demands of the project and tight time frame to deliver the systems, Essa do Brasil has relied heavily on the exceptional design expertise of Essa Australia in delivering these types of automated sampling systems to clients over the last 25 years.

Latest News | 18 June 2010 | Inauguration Ceremony at ThyssenKrupp CSA

From ThyssenKrupp Press Release:

“An important milestone in ThyssenKrupp’s global growth strategy is now ready for ramp-up,” said Dr.Ekkehard Schulz, Executive Board Chairman of ThyssenKrupp AG, today (June 18, 2010) at the opening ceremony of the ThyssenKrupp CSA Siderúrgica do Atlântico steel mill in Santa Cruz, Brazil. Among the roughly 1,500 guests – including over 1,000 employees – were the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral, and the CEO of Vale, Roger Agnelli. Vale is a co-owner of ThyssenKrupp CSA with a 26.87 percent stake.

“Despite the global crisis, we stuck to our plans for our two major projects in Brazil and Alabama, where the slabs produced here will be further processed. We were always sure we had made the right decision. We want to not just maintain but expand our leading position in the global market for high-quality flat-rolled carbon steel,” continued Dr. Schulz. He promised that ThyssenKrupp will be a good neighbor in Santa Cruz.

President Lula expressed his belief that ThyssenKrupp’s investment will benefit the Brazilian economy over the long term, pointing to ThyssenKrupp’s 200-year history in Germany and the company’s involvement in Brazil going back to 1837. Governor Cabral highlighted the significance for jobs in Rio de Janeiro state.

During the construction phase more than 30,000 people were employed on the construction site. When the steel mill is in operation, the company will provide 3,500 jobs, which will mostly be filled by Brazilian employees. The number of indirect jobs created by the investment is expected to be four times as high.

Cabral said: “ThyssenKrupp CSA is an investment of which the State of Rio de Janeiro can be proud. It is a demonstration of confidence in the Brazilian people and in the country, in addition to being a strategic investment. Rio de Janeiro is transforming itself into a national and international steel-making hub, and ThyssenKrupp CSA is making an extraordinary contribution to this process. ThyssenKrupp and Vale are two major companies with well-earned reputations for excellence in their fields of activity and, together, will bring prosperity and economic growth to Brazil”.