On 14th of February 2017, ArcelorMittal Zenica organized ceremony of signing the Agreement for the rebuilding of Blast Furnace. The Agreement was signed with Danieli Corus – company from Netherlands, and the value of project is 19 million Euros.
The ceremony was attended by the Management of ArecelorMittal Zenica, headed by CEO of the Company - Biju Nair, CEO of Danieli Corus - Peter Zonneveld, Assistant Minister in FMERI - Marinko Bosnjak, the cantonal Minister of Economy - Zlatko Jelić, Mayor of Zenica - Fuad Kasumović and other distinguished guests.
The Blast furnace number 4 (“BF4”) is the only blast furnace still in operation in ArcelorMittal Zenica plant. The installation was put into operation in 1979 and usual working life of such plant is 10 to 11 years. By mid of 2018 this plant will complete 13 years of operation, since it was not working for almost 17 years, as consequence of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, the Management of ArcelorMittal Zenica has decided to do the relining of the blast furnace in order to assure sustainable operation of the plant in next 15 years.
Biju Nair, ArcelorMittal Zenica CEO, stated:
„The management, the Union and employees of ArcelorMittal Zenica put consistent efforts in spite of tough challenges for the sustainability of steel production from integrated route which in turn assure over 3100 direct and over 10,000 indirect employment. This project is not only important to Zenica but also for Prijedor, which have the long history of being associated together in mining and steel making.
We have set a goal of long term sustainability with many more projects and I am very optimistic to bring the golden days of steel making back in Zenica and Bosnia and Herzegovina within next 5 years.“
