[Ferro-Alloys.com]The Fondel Group will buy a substantial stake in a joint venture to build and manage the first silicon metal plant in Iceland, with the aim of producing 44,000 tpy within five years.

Fondel has signed the joint venture with several large Icelandic companies, and the consortium will be joined under the new corporate entity United Silicon HF. Financial terms, shareholder specifics and the names of the other Icelandic companies involved were not given. Construction has started at the first furnace at the plant, which will be based in the port of Helguvik, near the capital of Reykjavik, and is scheduled to be completed by 2016.