On April 20, local time in Reykjavik, a letter of intent for a Polycrystalline Silicon and Metal Silicon Cooperation Project between the China National BlueStar (Group) Co Ltd and the government of Iceland was signed in the National Culture Center in the capital city.
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China and the Prime Minister of Iceland, Sigurdardottir, attended the ceremony.
The Elkem Iceland, located in Grundartangi, is one of 16 core factories in Elkem.
Its annual sales revenue reached 1.2 billion of Norwegian krone ($200 million), covering about 1.5 percent of Icelandic GDP in 2011. With over 200 employees, it stands as the biggest casting products enterprise in the country.
The Icelandic government and Elkem were joint owners and then Elkem wholly owned it in 2003.
Iceland hopes that BlueStar can expand its investments of the nation.
The company will invest about $1 billion for new equipment with annual capacity of 12,000 tons of metallurgical solar polycrystalline silicon and 65,000 tons of metal silicon that could be manufactured in the country.
Elkem is an enterprise with over 108 years of history with a leading position in the technical fields of silicon materials, casting products, carbon, solar-grade poly-silicon. BlueStar invested $2 billion to acquire all Elkem shares on April 14, 2011.
Lu, Helge Aasen, CEO of Elkem, and Einar Thorsteinsson, general manager of the Elkem Iceland, attended a dinner held by the prime ministers of both countries.