Siderúrgica de Orinoco C.A. (SIDOR) is the largest Venezuelan steel corporation. The company is situated in an industrial zone in Ciudad Guayana, Bolívar State, near the Orinoco River.
Major iron deposits were found in Bolívar State in 1926 and 1947. Mining companies constructed rail infrastructure to take iron ore to ports on the Orinoco River. The potential to process iron ore in Venezuela became more apparent with the construction of the Guri Dam (one of a series on the Caroní River) in the 1960s. The Sidor plant was designed to make use of hydro-electricity to process iron ore which had been hitherto exported. Funds for its construction were obtained from Venezuela's oil revenues.
SIDOR ceased operating permanently after the first 2019 Venezuelan blackout. Its production had been gradually decreasing since the company was nationalized in 2008 by Hugo Chávez. A former director said that Chávez had "received it as a productive and solvent company; but management coming from the military world, unaware of 'steel manufacturing' activity, together with the 'absence of strategic planning and investments, led to a sustained fall in production'."[1][2]