CAP Acero Huachipato steel plant (Planta siderúrgica Huachipato (Spanish)) is a blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) steel plant operating in Talcahuano, Concepción, Chile.
Location
The map below shows the exact location of the plant in Talcahuano, Concepción, Chile:
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- Location: Av. Gran Bretaña 2910, Huachipato, Talcahuano, Chile
- Coordinates (WGS 84): -36.746421, -73.129171 (exact)
Background
The CAP Acero steel plant, known in Spanish as Siderúrgica Huachipato, is Chile's only integrated steel mill.[1] It is owned and operated by Compañía Siderúrgica Huachipato S.A., the steelmaking division of Grupo CAP (Compañía de Acero del Pacífico, or Pacific Steel Company), a leader in Chile's iron mining and steel making industries.[2]
CAP was founded in 1946 as a joint venture between the Chilean government agency CORFO (33%), the Caja Autónoma de Amortización de la Deuda Pública (14%), and private shareholders (53%). The company, renamed Grupo de Empresas CAP in 1981, was entirely privatized in 1987.[3] Construction of the steel plant began in early 1947, and it was officially inaugurated on November 25, 1950.[4]
Since 1950 CAP has maintained its position as Chile's leading steel producer and processor, while steadily modernizing and upgrading its infrastructure.[1] [5] The plant's blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace system is fed with iron ore from CAP's own mines. The plant's continuous casting facilities and rolling mill transform the resulting steel into slabs, billets, and a variety of products destined for national and international markets, including cold- and hot-rolled steel, grinding bars, rebar, and wire rod for use in construction, mining and other industries.[6][7]
In 2013, the plant's blast furnace No. 2 was idled as part of a company-wide cost-cutting plan, but the furnace was reportedly brought back online in April 2019.[8]
2024 shutdown of operations
In 2024, competition from low-cost Chinese steel resulted in repeated shutdowns of the Huachipato plant. The plant initially ceased operations in March 2024, following a 44% year-over-year increase in Chinese imports between 2022 and 2023.[9] Chile's government responded by slapping tariffs on imported steel, allowing the plant to resume operations for several months, but in August 2024 the plant's owners announced renewed plans to cease production indefinitely.[9] In September 2024, the plant was shuttered, and the company reported that the shutdown would likely be permanent.[10]
Low-emissions/green steelmaking
This steel plant is associated with a green steel project tracked in the Green Steel Tracker. Details about the project are included below.
Table 1: Green Steel Project Details
All references for the above data are available in the Green Steel Tracker.
|
|
Project 1
|
| Company
|
Compania Siderurgica Huachipato SA
|
| Company has climate goals?
|
No
|
| Location
|
Hualpén, Chile
|
| Project name
|
H2V CAP
|
| Project website
|
Site
|
| Project scale
|
Pilot
|
| Project status
|
Announced
|
| Year to be online
|
2030
|
| Technology to be used
|
H-DRI
|
| Technology details
|
Not stated
|
| Iron production capacity (million tonnes per year)
|
0
|
| Steel production capacity (million tonnes per year)
|
Not stated
|
| CO2 capture (million tonnes CO2 per year)
|
Not applicable
|
| Hydrogen generation capacity(MW)
|
17
|
| Investment size
|
3.6
|
| Partners
|
Paul Wurth Italia SpA (SMS Group), Corfo
|
| Date of announcement
|
2023-03-23
|
Plant Details
Table 2: General Plant Details
| Plant status
|
Start date
|
Workforce size
|
Iron ore source
|
| Operating[11]
|
1950[12]
|
1193[13]
|
El Romeral iron mine, other iron mines owned by CAP Minería[14]
|
Table 3: Ownership and Parent Company Information
| Parent company
|
Parent company PermID
|
Parent company GEM ID
|
Owner
|
Owner company PermID
|
Owner company GEM ID
|
| CAP SA [100.0%]
|
4295863321 [100%]
|
E100001000728 [100%]
|
Compania Siderurgica Huachipato SA[15]
|
5000030020
|
E100000130911
|
Table 4: Process and Products
Table 5: Crude Steel Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)
*Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for an explanation of the different capacity operating statuses.
| Capacity operating status*
|
Basic oxygen furnace steelmaking capacity
|
Nominal crude steel capacity (total)
|
| operating
|
1450 TTPA[21][21]
|
1450 TTPA[21][21]
|
Table 6: Crude Iron Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)
*Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for an explanation of the different capacity operating statuses.
| Capacity operating status*
|
Blast furnace capacity
|
Nominal iron capacity (total)
|
| operating
|
1481 TTPA[22][23]
|
1481 TTPA[22][23]
|
Table 7: Upstream Products Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)
Table 8: Actual Crude Steel Production by Year (thousand tonnes per annum)
| Year
|
BOF Production
|
Total (all routes)
|
| 2020
|
801 TTPA[20]
|
801 TTPA[20]
|
| 2021
|
833 TTPA[25]
|
833 TTPA[25]
|
| 2022
|
701 TTPA[26][27]
|
701 TTPA
|
Table 9: Actual Crude Iron Production by Year (thousand tonnes per annum)
| Year
|
BF Production
|
Total (all routes)
|
| 2020
|
664 TTPA[20][28]
|
664 TTPA[20]
|
| 2021
|
695 TTPA[27]
|
695 TTPA[28]
|
| 2022
|
625 TTPA[27]
|
625 TTPA
|
Blast Furnace Details
Table 10: Blast Furnace Details
| Unit name
|
Status
|
Announced date
|
Construction date
|
Start date
|
Furnace manufacturer and model
|
Current size
|
Current capacity (ttpa)
|
Decarbonization technology
|
Most recent relining
|
| 1
|
operating[29]
|
unknown
|
unknown
|
1950[19][20][30]
|
Brassert[30]
|
755 m³[24]
|
730[22]
|
unknown
|
unknown
|
| 2
|
operating[29][19][20][31]
|
unknown
|
unknown
|
1966[19][20][30]
|
Koppers[30]
|
881 m³[24]
|
751[23]
|
unknown
|
2019-04[32]
|
Articles and Resources
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of steel power plants, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Steel Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
References
Resources
