In January 2004, the CSN board announced the approval of investments up to US$820 million to be made through 2007, including: expansion of production at the Casa de Pedra iron ore mine from 15.5 to approximately 40 million tons; expansion of the coal terminal adjacent to the Sepetiba Port facilities to enable annual exports of up to 30 million tons of iron ore; and the construction of a six million-ton pellet plant. The company also explored opportunities for acquisitions or mergers abroad in order to expand output, and proposed to build a new steel plant which would have doubled current annual production of 5.8 million tons of raw steel, at an estimated investment cost of US$2.6 billion. Seeking to maintain focus on its program of acquisitions and growth, CSN set aside $520 million for investments in 2005.