POSCO said yesterday it is likely to build a "magnesium refining plant" in Gangwon Province.
"It is almost certain that we will sign an MOU with Gangwon Province to build a magnesium refining plant," said Kim Dong-wan, a POSCO spokesman.
The world's fourth-largest steelmaker has a magnesium sheet manufacturing plant in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, supplying small magnesium parts for makers of handsets, notebooks and MP3 players.
POSCO also plans to make magnesium sheets for lighter bicycles in the Suncheon plant.
POSCO and Gangwon Province are now in talks to decide on the amount of the investment, he said.
The steelmaker's move comes as the company has been aggressively widening its revenue streams in the materials business to seek new growth engines.
"POSCO's steel output is now 33 million tons a year, but it is expected to stop expanding the capacity when the figure reaches 40 million. POSCO is already turning its eyes to other businesses in the local market," said Choi Moon-sun, an analyst with Korea Investment & Securities.
"I think POSCO will tap the bicycle business very aggressively with magnesium products," he said.
POSCO recently agreed with Kazakhstan's UKTMP to jointly establish a titanium slab manufacturing firm to produce titanium in Ust-Kamenogorsk, eastern Kazakhstan.
If the titanium slabs are shipped to POSCO in Korea to make titanium coil, Korea will become the world's fourth country to produce titanium-based coil after Japan, Russia and the United States, the steelmaker said.
On Sept. 1, POSCO established the ferromanganese manufacturing company POS-HiMetal to enter the ferromanganese manufacturing business.
The company plans to start the construction of a plant in April next year and complete the construction in September 2011, to produce 75,000 tons of highly pure ferromanganese a year, POSCO said.
Source: Korea Herald
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