Midrex Technologies, Inc. and its parent company, Kobe Steel Ltd., have signed a strategic alliance agreement with SMS Demag AG. 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 CSP® (compact strip production) facility constitutes a mini-mill concept for producing high-grade hot strip.

The MIDREX® process is a method for the large-scale industrial production of direct-reduced iron ore in the form of DRI (direct-reduced iron) or HBI (hot briquetted iron). These products can be charged as Fe carriers into electric arc furnaces or CONARC® furnaces and melted down.