SDI to build EAF mill in Southwest
Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI), an electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mill operator, has announced plans to build a new EAF flat-rolled steel mill in the southwestern United States. The company says the facility will be able to produce 3 million tons of steel per year.
SDI says locating the new facility in the Southwest will allow it to supply the southern part of the United States as well as what it terms the underserved Mexican flat-rolled market. The mill is being designed to produce a range of flat-rolled products, including hot-rolled, cold-rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and painted steel. The new EAF mill will include a 450,000-ton-per-year galvanizing line and a paint line with a coating capacity of 250,000 tons per year.
While SDI has yet to choose a specific location, it says it is exploring several sites to determine the best state and local infrastructure and potential incentives. The company says the selected site will have a “significant competitive edge” in the region because of logistics and freight costs.
SDI says it expects to begin construction of the new mill in 2020 and to have operations begin by the second half of 2021. The cost of the facility will be between $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion, according to company estimates.
“We plan to utilize new technologies that will further reduce the gap between existing EAF and integrated steel mill production capabilities,” says Mark Millett, SDI CEO. He says the project “is a culmination of our intentional focus to cost-effectively further serve the customers in this growing flat-roll steel-consuming region while increasing our steelmaking capacity and value-added product capability.”
Gränges to add capacity in Tennessee
Sweden-based aluminum producer Gränges has been approved to receive $975,000 in economic incentives to invest in expanding its Gränges Americas Inc. plant in Huntingdon, Tennessee. The grant is part of a combined $2.9 million in incentives issued by Tennessee to the company to undertake a major expansion project in Huntingdon.
Tennessee’s State Funding Board approved the most recent economic development grant for Gränges Americas at a Nov. 26, 2018, meeting, according to an online report from AP.
In the United States, the Gränges Americas business unit operates three production sites, all in the southeastern U.S., with a combined production capacity of 200,000 metric tons, according to the company.
Gränges uses primary and secondary raw materials in its production process, with the company saying it used 25 percent scrap materials at its U.S. facilities in 2017. It produces rolled aluminum for what it terms niche markets, including heat exchangers used in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) market.
The Tennessee funding will help Gränges add 165 jobs tied to a larger $110 million investment in Huntingdon, according to an economic development official the AP report quotes.
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