January 17 (SeeNews) - South Korean steel-making giant POSCO has expressed interest in talks about a possible cooperation with Montenegro's EPCG Zeljezara Niksic, whose steelmaking and forging capacities were offered on lease last month, the government in Podgorica said.
Montenegrin prime minister Milojko Spajic presented the investment opportunities in EPCG Zeljezara Niksic to POSCO's vice president, Jaewan Lee, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.
Spajic and POSCO also agreed to explore a potential collaboration between the Korean giant and Montenegrin state-controlled power utility EPCG, which owns EPCG Zeljezara Niksic, according to the statement.
In December, EPCG opened a public call to investors for the lease of EPCG Zeljezara Niksic's capacities, aimed at preserving steel production at the troubled plant. The deadline for the submission of bids is January 25.
Earlier in January, the Montenegrin energy ministry said it held talks with representatives of Austria-based steel supplier Safin Group, which expressed interest in EPCG Zeljezara Niksic's assets.
In addition, local media reported last week that Luxembourg's Duferco and Switzerland's Trasteel have also shown interest in leasing the production assets of the steel mill.
EPCG acquired Zeljezara Niksic from Turkey's Toscelik for 20 million euro ($22 million) in December 2022.
Located in the western city of Niksic, EPCG Zeljezara has two 60-tonne electric arc furnaces that can produce an estimated 300,000 metric tonnes of crude steel per year.
($ = 0.919 euro)