SSAB Luleå mini-mill investments

The SSAB project in Luleå, Sweden, will transition steel production from blast furnace technology to electric arc furnace (EAF) technology. The new, mini-mill with a capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per year, will consist of two EAFs, advanced secondary metallurgy, a direct strip rolling mill, and a cold rolling complex. The mill will use both scrap and, in the future, sponge iron from hydrogen-reduced ore pellets. Slag processing activities will be relocated, and seawater abstraction at the site will be moved. A new pumping plant will be built for water abstraction, leading to changes in the amount of water abstracted. Additionally, a change is being applied for the waste deposited in the landfill.

When the new mill is completed, SSAB will close the blast furnace production system. This transformation of steel production in Luleå will reduce Sweden’s total fossil carbon dioxide emissions by more than 3 million tonnes per year, equivalent to 7% of the total.

Startup of the mill is planned for at the end of 2028. The new mini-mill has undergone a full environmental impact assessment (EIA). The application for the new steel plant, together with the EIA, was submitted to the competent authority on 22.11.2023, and was followed by a public consultation period. Court hearings are expected in the fall of 2024, with the final permit expected by late 2024.

NIB welcomes comments on the project in question.

NIB contact information: info@nib.int / “A project” in subject field

Nordic Investment Bank

Sustainability and Mandate Unit

P.O. Box 249

FI-00171 Helsinki

Finland

This document was prepared and disclosed at an early stage of NIB’s review of the project, before consideration by NIB’s Board of Directors. Details of the project may change following disclosure.

The Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and EIA summaries are produced by the project sponsors, and NIB makes them available without any comment or implied endorsement. Any views expressed or statements made in the EIA or the EIA Summary do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of NIB.

Category A projects

Carl Orrling, Head of Transformation at SSAB, carl.orrling@ssab.com