Gerdau Investing $5.8B to Expand Iron Ore Processing Capacity

Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau SA (NYSE:GGB) said Thursday it will spend $5.8 billion through 2020 to expand its iron ore processing capacity to 24 million metric tonnes a year, Platts reported.

As quoted in the market news:

Both works will be undertaken in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. The upstream investment will enable the expansion of the company’s second treatment unit, UTM 2, at Miguel Buriner until the end of 2016, and the construction of a third facility of this kind, UTM 3, at Varzea do Lopes, slated for late 2020. With UTM 1 and 2, Gerdau may process up to 11.5 million mt/year of granulated products, sinter feed, pellet feed and fines.

Gerdau’s iron ore reserves are estimated to be around 2.9 billion mt at an average Fe content of 42.3%.

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