The Swiss company "8B Capital SA", which leased the Forge and Steel Plant at the Nikšić-based "EPCG - Željezara", officially registered its daughter company "20B Capital Montenegro" on January 8th of this year.
According to the data from the register, the company's activity code is "production of pig iron, steel and ferroalloys", while the executive director was appointed Igor Šamis.
The Swiss company leased the Nikšić factory's facilities from the state-owned Electric Power Company (EPCG) for 50 years, and the lease officially began on October 1st last year, while the lease agreement was signed two days earlier.
The lessee's obligation under the contract is to begin production within a year of the start of the lease, to take on 150 workers within six months (25 per month) and to pay monthly rent to EPCG in the amount of 31.000 euros per month.
"The plan is to start ingot production in July, and the strategy is to produce the maximum possible volume of ingots made of special types of steel plus packaging. Sales will take place through Austrian traders and directly, and several more companies will be registered that will deal with the collection of transport material," said a source close to "EPCG - Željezari" to "Vijesti".
He added that the company "Danieli" made an offer to purchase a mill for the production of fittings, and that it is planned to produce fittings in quantities of 150.00 to 250.000 tons.
The source of "Vijesti" also states that a team of experts from the Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine, who have 25 to 30 years of experience working in the metallurgical industry, has been assembled to launch production.
Šamis had previously officially stated that the available equipment at the Steelworks enables the production of more than 300 tons of steel. He then pointed out that it is necessary to produce about 100 tons of raw steel in order to produce about five thousand different alloy steel profiles in the Forge, and that the difference of up to 300 tons should be used to produce high-quality concrete reinforcement.
Šamis said that hot-rolled strips should also be produced in Kovačnica, as well as the other range of products that the market is looking for.
Former Minister of Energy Saša Mujović said at a working breakfast with journalists in December that the lessee of the "Steelworks" and "Kovačenice" facilities, the Swiss "8B Capital", is respecting all obligations from the lease agreement.
"It will sound strange, but we will have a problem that when the investor takes over contract workers, we will lack workers to do the jobs they are currently engaged in, especially when it comes to welders," said the minister.
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