A DREAM COME TRUE: THE 500.000 T/Y NANO MILL IN BARRA DO DANDE ANGOLA STARTED OPERATION

ADA Aceria Angola is a privately own company in Luanda, dedicated to steel production. An ambitious project that involves the construction of the most modern steel mills of the African continent, will allow producing 500.000 tons of steel 100% Angolan per year aim to reduce the steel import from neighbor countries. This project represent the first phase of the diversification program of ASC to react to the expanding demand of rebars in Angola and the neighboring countries.

Rebar production output will account of more than 60%, wire rod close to 30% and wire mesh 10%, with an overall output target of 500,000 tpy. Capital expenditure at the ambitious greenfield project amounted to $300 million, half raised through equity, half through five-year bank loans, according to CEO speech Georges Choucair, privately-owned mill and chairman of its Angolan holding company K2L Capital.

During the opening ceremony, Mr. Choucair said: “We invested in a 50 km transmission line to get electricity access, which was about 15% of the total cost of the project, adding that the company is now the first industrial unit in Angola to receive high-voltage, 220kV electricity. Our rebar operation requires huge quantities of scrap, but there are issues with logistics and the availability of equipment for scrap collection,” he added. The domestic scrap availability is expected to last for around three years, through collecting abundant remnants from the civil war, old railways and the oil sector, which will support the environmental clean-up of the country. He was also confident that local steel demand will expand as Angola’s population is expected to grow to 30 million by 2030, from just over 24 million in 2014, creating new housing and construction needs.

The plant started construction activities at the beginning of 2013 and completed on December 2015. The main contractor of the project is the Italian Danieli Group for Phase 1 and 2 of a new 500.000 t/y meltshop and Rebar Rolling Mill to be installed in Barra do Dande, Bengo Province. The overall capability of Danieli was “the key-point” to cover the full process line under a single point responsibility from the raw material preparation by a shedder up to the dispatch of high quality final product, which has been a decisive factor for the investors.
The scope of the order includes a shredder, Melting Furnaces, refining LF and Oxygen Blowing Stand, fume treatment plant, a continuous casting machine for Billets, the reheating furnace, the rebar rolling mill, all meltshop auxiliaries, all process cranes as well as the water treatment plant for the entire facility.

This order underlines Danieli as “Front Runners” on this innovative technology and the sustainable approach of Danieli to believe the future of Africa.
As well the project will consolidate the strong leadership of Angola Steel Corporation in the Angola Country and International market.