Indonesia-based Xiamen Xiangsheng Nickel Company has commissioned No. 4, 6x100mt Argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) furnace at its Konawi County, Sulawesi Province facility. The project was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furnace No. 4 was put into operations on Aug 18. China’s Huatian MCC was awarded the contract in 2018 for building an integrated stainless steel smelting plant with 2.5mn mt annual capacity. The No. 1 and No. 2 furnaces of the project went into production by the end of 2019. The project work was interrupted due to the COVID-19 outbreak in mid-2020 as maintenance personnel could not travel to the site.
The $1bn SS plant is claimed to be a classic example of China’s Belt-and-Road initiative, which is a part of its global infrastructure development strategy.