Steel dust recycler to expand in Turkey
ISTANBUL
Steel dust recycling plants will create 130 direct jobs, says Montes of Befesa. AA photo
Befesa, a Spanish company active in recycling industrial waste, is slated to invest around $120 million in two plants for steel dust treatment in the Aegean province of İzmir and the southern province of Adana.“The investment will initially create $80 million to $100 million in additional exports,” Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said yesterday at a press meeting in Istanbul to announce the plan, adding that the figure may increase to $300 million with additional investments.
Befesa operates in Turkey through a joint venture with the Canadian-listed company Silvermet, a majority of which was acquired by Befesa in 2010. Befesa currently has a steel dust recycling facility in the southern district of İskenderun with a 60,000-ton capacity.
The facilities will create 130 direct and more than 200 indirect jobs, Befesa Chief Executive Javier Molina Montes said at the press conference. The annual steel dust treatment capacity of each facility will be 110,000 tons, and the construction of the plants is set to start in early 2013, Montes said.
“The investment will be financed using a combination of equity from the company and loans from local Turkish banks,” Montes said. “Interest rates are maybe a little bit more expensive than in Europe, but we are still interested,” he told the Hürriyet Daily News. “In Europe, the banks have liquidity problems. In our opinion, [Turkish] banks are full of money. That is very important.”
Turkey’s iron and steel industry produces nearly 500,000 tons of steel dust, 45 percent of which will be treated by the Befesa plants. The plants will produce about 80,000 tons of zinc oxide as a result of the steel dust recycling process, according to a company press release.
Befesa is also looking into
the local aluminum sector for a possible investment in that field, Montes said.
