[Ferro-Alloys]By the fall of this year, Evraz Stratcor will be able to use roasted vanadium-bearing steelmaking slag as feed at its Hot Springs, AR, plant where it produces specialty vanadium alloys and chemicals. New facilities at Hot Springs to treat roasted slag from Evraz’s steel operations in Russia will be up and running in the fall of 2013, the company said. The new facilities will include improved leaching and reagent systems and will allow the use of greater amounts of steelmaking slag in the future so that Hot Springs will be able to resume its historic production level of 9-million ppy of V2O5, Evraz said.

 

Capacity at Hot Springs is believed to be 12-million ppy, but for the past few years production at Hot Springs has been constrained by availability of fly ash from Venezuela. Unreliable and delayed shipments from Venezuela prompted Evraz to look into diversifying the feed stocks it uses at Hot Springs. It currently processes residues, ashes and spent catalysts from a variety of countries.

 

In mid-2011, Evraz authorized Stratcor to finalize engineering work for installing at Hot Springs a kiln and other equipment to recover vanadium from steelmaking slag (Ryan’s Notes, June 6, 2011, p1). Evraz subsequently decided not to build a kiln at Hot Springs but instead roast the slag in Russia and ship the roasted slag to Hot Springs. “This makes a lot more sense in terms of transportation costs,” said one source.

 

The Hot Springs plant has been extensively testing the roasted slag and will be processing a substantial shipment of roasted slag this summer. The vanadium alloys and chemicals produced at Hot Springs are marketed to the titanium, chemical and steel industries.

 

With the completion of the new facilities at Hot Springs, Evraz will be more vertically integrated “from raw materials through the finished product,” said Tim Scott, President of Evraz Stratcor.