POSCO said on the 14th that the No. 3 FINEX plant at Pohang Works has resumed operations after recent repairs. It has been 1 year and 1 month since repairs began following back-to-back explosion and fire accidents on Nov. 10 and 24 last year.
The No. 3 FINEX plant is a facility that produces molten iron using the FINEX process developed in-house by POSCO. Traditional blast furnaces require preliminary steps to sinter iron ore and turn bituminous coal into coke, but the FINEX process uses iron ore and bituminous coal in their powdered form to produce molten iron, eliminating the need for preliminary facilities.
POSCO has operated the No. 3 FINEX plant since 2014. The facility produces about 2 million tons of molten iron annually. It accounts for about 10–12% of Pohang Works' total molten iron output.