Severstal Will Consider More South African Purchases After IMBS Investment

OAO Severstal, Russia’s largest steelmaker, will coball crushers for tungsten buy chinansider other investments in South Africa’s steel and mining industry after announcing its entry into the country. “We are interested in steel, mining of base metals, coal, iron ore and gold,” Alexander Grubman, chief executive officer of Severstal Russian Steel, said in an interview in Johannesburg today.

Severstal bought 25.6 percent of Johannesburg-based Iron Mineral Beneficiation Services, which has the patent to technology that converts superfine iron ore to high-quality iron units, for $17 million. “We have a firm belief in this technology,” Grubman said. Severstal’s billionaire Chief Executive Officer Alexei Mordashov said in June the Russian steelmaker was interested in expanding in African mining. The company in May bought 16.5 percent of Core Mining Ltd., which has licenses to untapped iron ore deposits in Congo and Gabon, and yesterday raised its stake in Crew Gold Corp., operating in Guinea, to 93.4 percent. “We think that Africa is the place that steel and mining industry players have to be,” Grubman said.