Nucor selects Kentucky for new mill site

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor Corp. has announced it will build its new scrap-fed electric arc furnace (EAF) steel plate mill in Brandenburg, Kentucky. That city is situated on the Ohio River southwest of Louisville, Kentucky.

Nucor says it will invest approximately $1.35 billion to build the mill, which will be capable of producing 1.2 million tons per year of steel plate products. The plate mill is expected to be fully operational in 2022, pending regulatory approvals and obtaining appropriate permits.

“This strategic investment will enable us to build a clear market leadership position in the United States plate market,” says John Ferriola, chair, CEO and president of Nucor. “Kentucky is an excellent location for this mill, right in the center of America’s largest plate consuming region. Our acquisition of the Gallatin sheet mill in Ghent, Kentucky, five years ago has been a tremendous success, and we are pleased to add a second mill in the state.”

The new plate mill will provide Nucor the ability to produce 97 percent of the products demanded in the domestic plate market, including what it calls specialty higher margin products, according to the firm.

The mill will produce cut-to-length, coiled, heat-treated and discrete plate ranging from 60 to 160 inches wide and in gauges from 3/16th of an inch to 14 inches. The location on the Ohio River will give Nucor logistical advantages in sourcing raw materials and serving customers throughout the Midwest, adds the firm.

Nucor currently operates plate mills in North Carolina, Alabama and Texas. It says the Brandenburg mill will employ more than 400 people full time at an average annual salary of $72,000.

Nucor has two additional major investment projects underway at its Gallatin sheet mill in Kentucky. That mill’s new galvanizing line will be operational during the second quarter of 2019. Additionally, a project to increase Gallatin’s hot-rolled coil capacity at expanded widths of up to 73 inches is expected to come online during 2021.

“We would like to thank Governor Matt Bevin, officials with the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and local officials in Brandenburg and Meade County for their help and support of this project,” says Leon Topalian, executive vice president of beam and plate products at Nucor. “We are looking forward to being part of the Brandenburg community.”

Nucor and its affiliates make steel and steel products, with operating facilities primarily in the U.S. and Canada. Its David J. Joseph Co. affiliate processes and brokers ferrous and nonferrous scrap, pig iron, hot-briquetted iron and direct-reduced iron. Nucor describes itself as North America’s largest recycler.