Ak steel acquires met coal leases, forms iron venture

摘要

Washington-Ohio-based producer AK Steel said Tuesday that it will pay 36 million dollars in cash to acquire all the stock of Solar Fuel Company, a private firm with metallurgical coal leases, and is also contributing 298 million dollars to a joint venture with Magnetation, a company that recovers high-purity iron concentrate. ”These investments represent significant steps in AK Steel’s top strategic initiative to further vertically integrate through increased ownership of steelmaking raw materials,” said James Wainscott, chairman, president and CEO of AK Steel. “They give AK Steel a clear plan for increasing raw material selfsufficiency, and will provide us with both a financial hedge against global market price increases and low-cost steelmaking inputs for our own consumption,” he noted in a statement.