China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction, more commonly known as NFC to industry insiders, is riding the wave of the Belt and Road Initiative to increase its overseas expansion, gaining stature outside the country with a batch of high-profile international nonferrous metal projects in the countries and regions involved in the BRI.
In its overseas business landscape, Kazakhstan is a key destination, where the company via its wholly-owned subsidiary, NFC Kazakhstan, has delivered six large-scale industrial projects, including the first aluminum smelter plant and two world-class copper processing plants, contributing significantly to the development of the country's industry and creating more than 7,000 jobs for local people.
NFC Kazakhstan has obtained a first-class construction and installation certificate, third-class construction engineering certificate as well as a surveying and exploration license in Kazakhstan. This made the company qualified to provide services for mining, metallurgy, petroleum, coal, chemicals and other industries.
It has poured more than $150 million into investments in Kazakhstan and contributed nearly $170 million to the country's tax revenue, according to a company statement.
In September 2005, NFC and Kazakhstan Aluminium Smelter signed an EPC contract for the first phase of a KAS aluminum smelter.
EPC stands for engineering, procurement and construction. In such a contract, the contractor handles design, procurement, construction and commissioning, and hands over the project to the end-user.
The aluminum smelter, designed to have an annual output of 250,000 metric tons, adopted the cutting-edge proprietary technology of 320-kiloampere electrolytic cells from China at that time.
When the project was completed and put into operation in September 2007, then Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev attended the ceremony for the commissioning of the smelter. The project set a record for the shortest construction period for an aluminum plant in Europe.
In September 2007, KAS and NFC continued their cooperation by signing another EPC contract for the second phase of the aluminum smelter.
The project, which was put into operation in June 2010, was awarded the Silver National Quality Project Award, the Annual Quality Engineering Award of the China Nonferrous Metals Association, the First Prize of Annual Excellent Design, the Annual National Engineering Award First Prize of Annual Excellent Design, the Annual National Engineering Award of Kazakhstan and the EBA European Quality Award among others.
Exemplary project
The Bozshakol copper concentrator project, for which NFC signed an EPC contract with KAZ Minerals in February 2014, is an exemplary project showcasing NFC's efforts to traverse both the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China and the Path of Light strategy of Kazakhstan.
The project, designed and managed strictly in line with European and United States standards, features two ball mills and one semi-autogenous grinding mill, which are the best in the nonferrous industry around the world.
The project was completed and put into operation in December 2015.
Then Kazakh president Nazarbayev witnessed the commissioning of the Bozshakol copper sulfide concentrator plant via video and awarded the project the Golden Eagle Quality Award for the "Best National Industrial Project" during the live broadcast.
In December that year, NFC inked another EPC contract with KAZ for the Aktogay copper concentrator project, another example of the synergy between the BRI and the Path of Light strategy and enhanced production capacity cooperation between the two countries.
The total investment of the project surpassed $2 billion, including a sulfide ore processing plant with an annual capacity of 25 million tons and an oxide ore processing plant with an annual capacity of 12 million tons.
Despite a freezing winter and scorching summer, NFC has risen to the tough challenges while implementing the project under temperatures of more than -40 C and frozen soil having a depth of 2 meters. The project, completed in December 2016, passed the state inspection of Kazakhstan and has created more than 1,500 jobs for local people.
In June 2019, NFC and KAZ signed one more EPC contract for the VCM shaft project, marking their third cooperation.
This is the first time that NFC has contracted a mine shaft construction project in the CIS region in the form of an EPC, which injected new vitality into the further development of the CIS regional engineering market.
In September 2021, NFC signed an EPC contract with Eurasian Resources Group for a semi-coke plant with an annual output of 400,000 tons in Shubarku, Kazakhstan.
Diverse businesses
In addition, NFC has also contracted the construction of a calcined petroleum coke plant capable of producing 280,000 tons a year, a delayed coking project and a vulcanization unit project, all of them located in Kazakhstan. They help to realize NFC's business expansion from nonferrous industrial projects to the petrochemical field, according to the company.
By building the national key projects, NFC has made outstanding contributions to the modernization of Kazakhstan's petrochemical industry.
NFC Kazakhstan focuses on long-term sponsorship of local welfare undertakings, activities for environmental protection, energy conservation and emissions reduction. It has won wide acclaim from the local government and all sectors of the society, and has been presented the Tax Gold Award as well as other honors.
By fully promoting the implementation of the BRI, NFC has gained popularity as a well-known Chinese brand, while also exploring the international market. Aside from Kazakhstan, NFC now enjoys a high reputation in the international nonferrous metal industry.
As a listed State-owned company hailing from China, NFC is mainly engaged in international project contracting and nonferrous metal resources development, with its main business scope covering the whole process of the nonferrous metal industry, including nonferrous metal resources exploration, mine development, smelting, investment, trade, engineering, research and development, project construction and equipment manufacturing.
Source: ChinaDaily
(To contact the reporter on this story: jemma.shang@steelhome.cn or 86-555-2238875 18155520624) |
