Gulf Mining Group, one of the largest mining and mineral processing corporations in the sultanate, is pushing ahead with plans to triple the capacity of its ferrochrome smelting plant in Freezone Sohar with an investment of around $70 million, said a report.
The plan follows the company successfully dealing with the problem of slag mountains - the waste resulting from ferrochrome smelting, which had begun stockpiling on land earmarked for the expansion project, Mohammed Yahya Al Shabibi, vice chairman, Gulf Mining Group, was quoted as saying in an Oman Daily Observer report.
Al Shabibi said that the company is in the process of removing the slag, which has taken up more than a third of the site. The process will take about three to four months, upon the completion of which the company will commence construction work on the expansion project.
He noted that the expansion will be undertaken in two stages. The first phase will lift smelting capacity from the present 50,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) to 100,000 tpa, with this new capacity slated for commercial operation by late 2020 or early 2021.
Al Shabibi added that immediately thereafter, the company plans to embark on the second phase, which will boost the plant’s overall capacity to 150,000 tpa — a process that should be completed by 2022-23.
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