Vale secures land and suppliers for green steel hub in Oman: Brazilian mining firm Vale finalized a land reservation agreement with the Port of Duqm Company for three production plants that will source materials essential to Oman’s low-carbon steel making industry, The Times of Oman reports. Vale also signed a separate non-binding agreement with Oman’s Marafiq to provide energy and utility services for the green steel production hub, which will be built in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm. The financials and a timeline on the integral industrial complex’s launch date were not disclosed

What we know: The land Vale has secured -– spanning some 6.7 sqkm in Duqm — will be used to set up three production facilities aimed at securing materials critical to low-carbon steel production including hot briquette iron (HBI) — which is 60% less carbon-intensive than conventional materials when produced using nagas according to Vale, and direct reduced iron, the Oman News Agency noted yesterday. Manufacturing HBI using green hydrogen could bring down emissions to zero, according to research by S&P Global. The raw materials produced in Oman will be also available for export to international markets, according to Times of Oman.

Will renewable energy be involved? Utility provider Marafiq — a joint venture between Oman’s OQ and Thailand’s Gulf Energy Development — will supply the project’s power needs as well as utility services “while promoting the use of clean energy and green hydrogen at the port of Duqm,” according to the news outlet.

Vale has been making moves in Oman: The company signed an agreement in February to repurchase its 30% stake in Vale Oman from Omani state-owned energy investment company OQ. Vale Oman owns and manages an iron ore pelletizing facility with an annual 9 mn ton iron ore pellet production capacity.

And has plans for the UAE and KSA: Vale signed an MoU with Saudi Arabia’s National Industrial Development Center back in November to study establishing a USD 1.1 bn iron ore pellet mega hub producing some 4 mn tons of iron ore pellets annually in KSA’s Ras Al-Khair industrial zone, and said it and the UAE’s Emirates Steel Arkan are working a study exploring the feasibility of establishing an iron ore pellet mega hub in Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Industrial Zone last October.