Rio Tinto is investing $29 million to build a new aluminum recycling facility at its Arvida Plant in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, to expand its offering of low-carbon aluminum solutions for customers in the automotive, packaging and construction markets. According to Rio Tinto, the facility will make the company the first primary aluminum producer in North America to incorporate recycled post-consumer aluminum into aluminum alloys. The recycling center is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2024 and will have an initial capacity of 30,000 tons per year. A remelting furnace equipped with regenerative burners and an automated scrap loading system will be installed in an existing building at the Arvida Plant. 

Honda Motor Co. and LG Energy Solution announced an agreement to establish a joint venture (JV) to produce lithium-ion batteries in the United States to power Honda and Acura EV models for the North American market. The companies will invest a total of $4.4 billion in the plant, which aims to have an annual production capacity of approximately 40 GWh. The pouch-type batteries produced at the JV plant will be supplied exclusively to Honda facilities in North America. While the location for the facility is yet to be finalized, the companies plan to begin construction in early 2023 in order to enable the start of mass production of lithium-ion battery cells by the end of 2025.

Toyota announced an additional investment of $2.5 billion in its newest North American facility, Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMNC). This investment adds capacity to support battery electric vehicle (BEV) battery production and adds 350 jobs, bringing total employment to approximately 2,100. Scheduled to begin production in 2025, the facility will produce batteries for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and BEVs.   

France’s Obut has been producing steel balls weighing around 700 grams each for popular sport Pétanque since 1955. In an effort to improve production of boule balls at its headquarters in Saint-Bonnet-Le-Château, the company ordered a 1,300-ton forging press from Farina. The forging press replaces two lines with a press force of 600 and 800 tons respectively, which are becoming obsolete. The future line, which also includes a transfer and a furnace, will form a half shell every 2 seconds. The starting material for the boule balls, which have a diameter of just over 2.75 inches (7 cm), are steel rods cut into sections that a press first forms into discs and then into half shells. These are then welded together, machined and polished to a mirror finish.

Siderforgerossi Group S.p.A., a global manufacturer of forged products and a portfolio company of KPS Capital Partners, completed the acquisition of Grupo Euskal Forging S.L. and its subsidiaries. Euskal Forging is a manufacturer of forgings and seamless rolled rings, including rings greater than 8 meters in diameter, serving the wind power and mining industries. Headquartered in Irura, Spain, the company operates three manufacturing facilities and has approximately 170 employees. Veneto, Italy-headquartered Siderforgerossi is a vertically integrated manufacturer of rolled and forged products with capabilities across the manufacturing spectrum, including open-die and closed-die forging. 

Bharat Forge Ltd., along with its subsidiary BF Industrial Solutions Ltd. (together referred to as Bharat Forge), successfully completed the previously announced acquisition of JS Autocast Foundry India Private Ltd. (JS Auto). The acquisition significantly enhances Bharat Forge’s capabilities and addressable market segments, both domestically and in export markets. JS Auto recently received approval to expand existing foundry operations at one of its two locations in India.

Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) is increasing its investment to more than $10 billion in the United States by 2025 to further its goal to lead sustainable and smart mobility solutions. The group’s investment plans are designed to accelerate innovation and mobility electrification. The move supports carbon-neutrality goals with new technologies and contributes to manufacturing in the United States. As part of the investment, HMG announced a $5.54 billion plan to establish its first dedicated EV and battery manufacturing facility in Georgia to build a range of electric vehicles. The plant, located on 2,923 acres in Bryan County, will break ground in early 2023 and is expected to begin commercial production in the first half of 2025 with an annual capacity of 300,000 units.

Italian ring and bevel gear manufacturer Molla has been evaluating forging presses from Schuler's subsidiary Farina to produce its products for use in trucks and construction and agricultural machinery. Following successful preliminary acceptance, a 10,000-ton line will be on its way to the company’s facility in Solbiate Arno this summer. Molla currently operates a 6,000-ton press and a 1,000-ton press. The three machines form a forging cell for preforming, deburring and finish forging of rings. This cell will increase Molla’s production capacity in preparation for future market requirements. 

Nucor Corp. is partnering with the University of Kentucky (UK) Research Foundation to test a carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture system at Nucor Steel Gallatin. This is one of 12 research projects being funded by a Department of Energy grant to advance point-source carbon-capture and storage technologies that can capture CO₂ emissions generated from natural gas power plants and industrial facilities that produce commodities like steel. More than 50 industry and university experts are working together to tackle the difficult challenge of applying carbon-capture and sequestration techniques to an electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking process. Once this pilot is complete, Nucor and UK will have a better understanding of the costs and effectiveness of carbon-capture technology for flue gas with low CO₂ content and the feasibility of replication of this technology at other EAF steel mills.

SMS group has been chosen by Jindal Stainless Ltd. (JSL) to build a new blast furnace at its Kalinganagar unit in India. The blast furnace will have a production capacity of 2 million tons of hot metal per year. The plant will serve both existing downstream steelmaking facilities and future facilities. The blast furnace will be the first in JSL’s new stainless steel complex, which is currently based on electric-arc furnace (EAF) technology, and will be the core of JSL’s Kalinganagar plant expansion. Commissioning of the plant is expected by the end of 2023. The project is another step toward India’s goal of bringing the country’s domestic production to 300 million tons by the end of the decade.