The Libyan Iron and steel is considered one of the largest industrial companies in Libya , located on an area of 1,200 hectares near the town of Misrata , just 210 kilometres to the east of the city of Tripoli . The design capacity of the company's 1.324 million tons of liquid steel per annum adopting direct reduction of iron pellets using domestic natural gas . The foundation stone was laid for the company in 18/09/1979 , marking the award of heavy manufacturing base in Libya . On 09/09/1989 the opening of production units and so the company has entered the stage of production