Jan 2012 Financial News

Investors eye La Brea steel plant

Jan 11, 2012

The National Gas Company, local conglomerate Neal and Massy Holdings, the National Energy Corporation and two foreign companies have agreed to examine the possibility of building an iron and steel complex at La Brea.

Severstal North America and Complejo Matalurgico Dominicano SA (Metaldom) have joined the local companies to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to undertake a feasibility study for the establishment of a vertically integrated iron and steel complex.

The complex will involve the construction of a Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) /Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) plant that will have a nominal capacity of 1.5 million tons per year and the integration of a steel mill with a nominal production capacity of up to 300,000 metric tons per year of steel billets, NEal & Massy said in a statement yesterday.

The entire project is estimated to cost in excess of US$600 million.

The integrated facility, which is earmarked for location at the Union Industrial Estate, La Brea will generate 3,500 indirect jobs during construction and 400 permanent jobs.

Arthur Lok Jack, chairman, Neal and Massy Holdings, said he was pleased with the facilitative role played by NGC and NEC in bringing this MOU to fruition and said that this was a very good signal for investors.

Chairman of NGC, Larry Howai, noted that although this project is still only in its preliminary stages, the involvement of these new international investors was certainly an endorsement of the strength and reputation of the Neal and Massy Group and, as well, of Trinidad and Tobago as a preferred destination for international investment.


Source:
Trinidad Express
Wednesday January 11, 2012

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/business/Investors_eye_La_Brea_steel_plant-137152343.html