United States Steel Corp. broke ground in Osceola, Ark., on the company’s next-generation highly sustainable and technologically advanced steel mill. According to U.S. Steel, the $3 billion steelmaking facility will be the most advanced in North America and largest private project in the history of Arkansas. The plant will be adjacent to U. S. Steel’s Big River Steel, and the two facilities will be known as Big River Steel Works. The facility is expected to bring 900 plant jobs to the area, along with thousands of construction jobs. It will include two electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) with 3 million tons per year of advanced steelmaking capability, an endless casting and rolling line and advanced finishing capabilities.

Algoma Steel Group Inc., a Canadian producer of hot- and cold-rolled steel sheet and plate products, will construct two new electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) to replace its existing blast furnace and basic oxygen steelmaking operations. The transformation is expected to reduce Algoma’s carbon emissions by approximately 70%. Following the transformation to EAF steelmaking, Algoma’s facility in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, is projected to have an annual raw steel production capacity of approximately 3.7 million tons. The facility will also include new vacuum degassing capability to expand Algoma’s offering of steel plate grades.

Nucor Corp. announced that its board of directors approved the construction of a new melt shop at one of the company’s existing bar mills in the western United States. The new $100 million facility will have the capacity to produce 600,000 tons annually and create approximately 140 new full-time jobs. Start-up is expected in 2024. Nucor has 15 bar mills strategically located across the country that manufacture a range of steel products, including concrete reinforcing bars, hot-rolled bars, rounds, light shapes, structural angles, channels, wire rod and highway products in carbon and alloy steels. Four of the bar mills have a significant focus on manufacturing SBQ and wire-rod products.

United States Steel Corp. announced an exploratory site selection process to build a new 3-million-ton flat-rolled minimill in the United States. The planned minimill will combine two state-of-the-art electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) with differentiated steelmaking and finishing technology, including purchased equipment already owned by the company. The continued adoption of minimill technology will expand U.S. Steel’s ability to produce the next generation of proprietary sustainable steel solutions, including advanced high-strength steels (AHSS). Potential locations include states in which the company has existing EAF operations and greenfield sites. The current estimated investment is approximately $3 billion.

Bull Moose Tube Co. (BMT), a Caparo Bull Moose subsidiary, announced plans to build a 350,000-ton-per-year pipe and tube mill on Steel Dynamics’ new Sinton, Texas, flat-rolled campus. The facility will produce sprinkler pipe and hollow structural sections (HSS) using steel from SDI’s plant. According to BMT, the mill will make product ranging in size from 4 to 14 inches square, 5 to 18 inches round, up to 80 feet long and thicknesses ranging from .187 to .750 inch. It will also expand BMT’s geographic footprint and allow the company to better serve customers in the Southwest, West Coast and Mexico markets. Company officials said they anticipate an early 2023 mill start-up.

SECO/WARWICK will deliver two vacuum furnaces to Flansch-Tech, a specialist in aluminum and steel forging, in Budapest. According to SECO/WARWICK, one of the vacuum furnaces will be the largest in Hungary. The Vector with horizontal charge loading is equipped with a 15-bar nitrogen cooling gas-pressure system and a production work area of 900 mm wide x 900 mm high x 1,200 mm long). It will be used for the heat treatment of tool steels – mostly dedicated to hardening and tempering – and will allow Flansch-Tech to process larger parts.

Tenaris plans to restart activity at its two plants in Pennsylvania: the Koppel melt shop and Ambridge seamless pipe mill. The plant in Koppel – the company’s first domestic steel shop – is finalizing an investment announced in 2020 to upgrade its steel bar size capabilities while also incorporating additional improvements in safety and automation. Tenaris has since increased its investment to include the revamping of existing cranes used to feed the furnace with scrap metal and a new production management system to improve process control at the steel shop. The more than $15 million investment is projected to be completed in May with production to start up in June. 

Nucor Corp. will build a new tube mill on the site of its Nucor Steel Gallatin sheet mill in Kentucky. This location will allow the company to take advantage of investments made to expand capacity of the Gallatin mill and add a galvanizing line. The $164 million project is expected to be in operation by the middle of 2023 and create more than 70 new full-time jobs. The tube mill will have the capacity to produce approximately 250,000 tons annually of hollow structural section (HSS) steel tubing, mechanical steel tubing and galvanized solar torque tube. The Gallatin County site puts the facility near expanding solar markets in the United States and the largest consuming regions for HSS steel tubing.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. successfully completed the acquisition of substantially all of the operations of ArcelorMittal USA LLC and its subsidiaries, forming the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America. In connection with the acquisition of ArcelorMittal USA, which includes the interests of ArcelorMittal USA of 60% in I/N Tek L.P. and 50% in I/N Kote L.P., Cleveland-Cliffs also acquired Nippon Steel’s remaining interests of 50% in I/N Kote and 40% in I/N Tek for a total consideration of approximately $183 million. With this additional transaction, Cleveland-Cliffs becomes the sole owner of 100% of I/N Tek and I/N Kote.

United States Steel Corp. exercised its call option to acquire the remaining equity of Big River Steel for approximately $774 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021. Big River Steel operates a LEED-certified Flex Mill in northeast Arkansas. The company’s advanced manufacturing technology and skilled operators combined with U.S. Steel’s product development capabilities and intellectual property have allowed Big River Steel to produce 11 advanced U.S. Steel grades.