The DF (Duro Felguera) Mining & Handling business division has won a contract for bulk handling equipment at a new iron and steel complex in Bellara in the north-east of Algeria, after reaching an agreement with customer Algerie Qatar Steel (AQS), the owner of the project. The shareholding structure of AQS consists of the company Sider and Qatar International, a joint venture between Qatar Steel and Qatar Mining.
The purpose of the project is to supply local demand for finished products and the plan is to reach a production figure of 2 Mt/y of steel. DF will deliver the project as a turnkey contract, including the engineering, procurement, manufacturing, construction and commissioning of the equipment necessary for the bulk handling package. The contract value is $109.4 million, and is in two different parts. Firstly, the port terminal facilities at the port of Djen Djen, for the reception of 3.5 Mt of iron ore pellets per year; and secondly, the equipment for pellet storage before they are sent to the direct reduction plant (DRI) within the new iron and steel complex at Bellara.
The equipment will include ore ship unloaders, conveyor belts, stackers and reclaimers, train loading and unloading, and service equipment to support these facilities. This will be the second project that DF has implemented in Algeria, as the DF Energy division is currently building a gas-fired combined cycle power plant at Djelfa (300 km south of Algiers). This power plant will have four gas and two steam turbines and will be the largest built yet by DF, at over 1,250 MW. The Djelfa project, awarded by the Algerian company Societé de Production de Electricité, a subsidiary of the Sonelgaz group, is also an EPC turnkey project. “With this new project announced today, DF reinforces its commitment to the market in Africa, where the various different business lines are currently carrying out projects. More specifically, the DF Mining & Handling division is building two iron ore processing plants in Mauritania and a bulk port terminal in Egypt.” In addition, the subsidiary Felguera IHI has implemented two projects for the design, engineering and procurement of LPG storage terminals: an 8,500 m3 spherical tank in Nigeria and eight 64,000 m3 vertical tanks in South Africa.