Acerinox Columbus Stainless steel plant
From Global Energy Monitor
| This article is part of the Global Iron and Steel Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor. |
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Acerinox Columbus Stainless steel plant is a steel plant in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, South Africa that operates electric arc furnace (EAF) technology.
Location
The map below shows the exact location of the plant in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, South Africa:
- Location: Hendrina Rd, Middelburg, 1050, South Africa
- Coordinates (WGS 84): -25.796313, 29.497972 (exact)
Background
According to the 2011 South African Steel Producers Handbook, Acerinox Columbus Stainless sources most of their raw materials (including steel scrap, ferrochrome, and nickel) from South Africa.[1]
In Acerinox's 2024 Management Report they delineated that one of the risks of their operation's in South Africa is the country's current state of drought. The drought is leading to nationwide water limitations which is impacting production at the plant level.[2][3]
Ownership Tree
This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.
Plant Details
Table 1: General Plant Details
| Start date | Workforce size | Power source | Iron ore source | Coal source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966[4][5] | 1319[6] | unknown | unknown | unknown |
Table 2: Ownership and Parent Company Information
| State-owned entity status | Parent company | Parent company PermID | Parent GEM entity ID | Owner | Owner company PermID | Owner GEM entity ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partial | Acerinox SA [76.0%]; Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Ltd [24.0%] | 4295889546 [76.0%]; 5000021732 [24.0%] | E100000130743 [76.0%]; E100001000576 [24.0%] | Columbus Stainless (Pty) Ltd [100%][4] | 4296772877 | E100000130800 [100%] |
Table 3: Process and Products
| Steel product category | Steel products | Steel sector end users | ISO 14001 | ISO 50001 | Responsible steel | Main production equipment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| semi-finished, finished rolled[4][7] | sheet, plate, coil, slab[4][8][9] | automotive, building and infrastructure, energy, tools and machinery[10] | Expired[11] | unknown[11] | unknown | EAF |
Table 4: Plant-level Crude Steel Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)
| Capacity operating status1 | Electric arc furnace steelmaking capacity | Nominal crude steel capacity (total) |
|---|---|---|
| operating | 850[12] | 850[12] |
Table 5: Actual Plant-level Crude Steel Production by Year (thousand tonnes per annum)
| Year | EAF production | Other/unknown steel production | Total (all routes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | unknown | unknown | – |
| 2020 | unknown | unknown | – |
| 2021 | unknown | unknown | – |
| 2022 | 523[13] | –[13] | 523[13] |
| 2023 | 477[14] | –[14] | 477[14] |
| 2024 | 475[6] | –[6] | 475[6] |
| 2025 | unknown | unknown | – |
Unit Details
Table 6: Electric Arc Furnace Details
| Unit name | Status | Current capacity (ttpa) | Current size (tonnes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| unknown EAF (1) | operating[15] | 850[12] | 100.0[16][15] |
Table 7: Electric Arc Furnace Feedstock Details
| Unit name | Scrap-based | % scrap | % DRI | % HBI | % sponge iron (unknown if DRI or HBI) | % basic/merchant pig iron | % granulated pig iron | % pig iron (unknown if basic/merchant or granulated) | % other iron |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unknown EAF (1) | yes[17][18] | 93.70[19][20] | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | 6.30[20] |
Articles and Resources
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of steel plants, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Iron and Steel Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
References
- ↑ South African Steel Producers Handbook, Department of Mineral Resources, Republic of South Africa, 2011, Retrieved on: Sep. 2, 2020
- ↑ "2024 Annual Reports - Acerinox Stainless Steel Manufacturer". www.acerinox.com. Retrieved 2025-12-04.
- ↑ "Severe drought in Africa persists and is expected to worsen - The Joint Research Centre: EU Science Hub". joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2025-12-04.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 https://web.archive.org/web/20240125060008/https://www.columbus.co.za/about/about.html. Archived from the original on 2024-01-25.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20240125060008/https://www.columbus.co.za/about/about.html.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 https://www.acerinox.com/en/acerinox/fabricas/columbus-stainless/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ "MPT International 4/2013 (Sep) by MPT Metallurgy - Plant Engineering - Technology - Issuu". issuu.com. 2017-02-20. Archived from the original on 2025-02-27. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220320123906/https://www.columbus.co.za/processes/process-diagram.html. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ "Process Flows". Columbus Stainless. 2024-06-20. Archived from the original on 2025-02-27. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20240111032728/https://www.acerinox.com/en/soluciones/aplicaciones/. Archived from the original on 2024-01-11.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 11.0 11.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20230514144914/https://www.acerinox.com/en/acerinox/fabricas/columbus-stainless/certificados-de-columbus-stainless/. Archived from the original on 2023-05-14.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20240911004143/https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/ESRS/25912/columbus. Archived from the original on 2024-09-11.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Consolidated annual accounts at December 31, 2022" (PDF). Acerinox, S.A. 2023-03-28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-01-10.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 (PDF) https://www.acerinox.com/export/sites/acerinox/.content/galerias/galeria-descargas/informacion-eco-financiera/informes-trimestrales-doc/2023-Consolidated-Annual-Accounts-and-Integrated-Annual-Report.pdf.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 15.0 15.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20210802085407/https://www.columbus.co.za/processes/technology.html. Archived from the original on 2021-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20240507132609/https://www.columbus.co.za/processes/technology.html.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://www.dmr.gov.za/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=XcYm78qEVRc%3D&portalid=0.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://one.oecd.org/document/DSTI/SU/SC(2008)34/en/pdf.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20240517185657/https://columbus.co.za/downloads/TCS-SPE-LETTER02.pdf.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 20.0 20.1 (PDF) https://www.columbus.co.za/downloads/TCS-SPE-LETTER02.pdf.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)
