During the METEC 2007 trade fair a strategic alliance agreement was signed between SMS Demag of Germany, Midrex Technologies Inc of USA and Kobe Steel Ltd of Japan. The purpose of the agreed cooperation is to achieve a joint market presence for suitable projects in order to implement a mini mill iron and steel plant on behalf of customers.

The combination of the MIDREX® direct reduction process and the steelworks technology of SMS Demag with downstream Compact Strip Production facility constitutes an optimally tuned mini mill concept for producing high grade hot strip in a manner which efficiently reduces energy and costs.

The MIDREX® process is a method for the large-scale industrial production of direct-reduced iron ore in the form of direct reduced iron or Hot Briquetted Iron. These products can be charged as Fe carriers into electric arc or CONARC® furnaces and melted down there.

The MIDREX® process provides an alternative to the classical blast furnace route and by the nature of the process, produces a considerably lower degree of CO2 emissions.

Kobe Steel is the licensor of the MIDREX® process.