OREANDA-NEWS. March 27, 2014. ArcelorMittal recently approved a EUR18m investment to upgrade the continuous casting line at its Industeel Belgium site in Charleroi.

The new line will allow Industeel Belgium to produce slabs with thickness of up to 355mm, and up to 2.2m long. The investment will result in the creation of 40 new jobs at the Charleroi plant.

‘’The investment reiterates ArcelorMittal’s commitment to Industeel Belgium as a strategic business. The new line will strengthen ArcelorMittal’s leadership in the energy steel market, and will allow us to supply customers with the products they require, at a highly competitive price,’’ said Industeel CEO Alex Nick.

The upgrade project – known as CC355 – will increase maximum slab thickness at the Charleroi site from 300mm to 355mm, and maximum length from 2,100mm to 2,200mm. These larger slabs will then be used to produce 125mm-thick heavy plates (weighing an impressive 20 tonnes each), the product of choice of our customers in the boiler and pressure vessel construction market.

The investment will also allow us to better serve our customers in the stainless steel, high-limit elasticity and moulds sectors through the production of 150mm and 175mm heavy plates.

The design of the new line was developed in collaboration with ArcelorMittal’s R&D Maizieres Process and R&D Metallurgy Le Creusot research centres, and integrates latest generation technology to meet with the most stringent safety and quality requirements.

The investment was first announced by Industeel CEO Alex Nick and plant manager Luc Libersens during a press conference in Marchienne-au-Pont  at the end of February, and received extensive and positive attention from both national media and the wider industry.

The upgrade will be performed during the annual shutdown in July and August 2015. Commercial production is scheduled for the first quarter of 2016.