POSCO's steel mill project approved by China

POSCO Co., South Korea's largest steelmaker, said Wednesday that it has gotten the nod from China to build a steel mill that uses its cutting-edge Finex technology.

POSCO has been pushing to get permission from China to build the steel mill with an annual production capacity of 3 million tons in the southwestern city of Chongqing after reaching a preliminary deal with Chinese steelmaker Chongqing Iron & Steel for the joint project in September 2013.

The approval, made Friday, will accelerate its move to finalize the detail plans for the joint project with the Chinese steelmaker, POSCO said.

This still requires an approval from the South Korean government since the project involves exporting POSCO's indigenous steel-making technology.

The Finex technology enables production of molten iron using steaming coal instead of more expensive coking coal, and is also less polluting, producing significantly less sulfur and nitrogen than conventional furnaces.

This is the first time that POSCO will export the Finex technology. POSCO signed a preliminary deal with India to export Finex last March, with Vietnam, Malaysia and Iran also expressing hope to introduce it, according to the company. (Yonhap)