JSW USA has officially restarted its facility in Mingo Junction, Ohio. After being idle for 3,545 days, it is now a melt and manufacture mill. The reopening of the mill is expected to create 1,000 jobs. The first slab on its electric-arc furnace (EAF) was cast on Dec. 14. Now that the facility will be melting its own steel, JSW USA will be more cost effective and ensure the highest quality for customers. The company is already in the design process to install another EAF at Mingo Junction.

Mukand Sumi Special Steel Ltd. (MSSSL), a joint venture of India’s Mukand Ltd. and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp., placed an order with Germany’s SMS group to supply a modern special-bar-quality (SBQ) rolling mill to produce straight round and hexagon bars, wire rod and bar-in-coils. The new mill will be installed near Hospet in Karnataka, India, adjoining Mukand’s existing steelmaking facilities. MSSSL plans to export specialty steels across the globe from this facility. Commissioning of the new SBQ mill is scheduled for the second quarter of 2020.

Specialty Steel Works Inc. (SSWI) announced a major capital investment at its Niagara LaSalle Corporation Cold Finish Steel Bar (CFSB) facility in Hammond, Ind. The multimillion dollar investment in new high-performance equipment and infrastructure will enhance and modernize the facility’s operating capabilities. The Hammond plant processes cold-finished steel bars in a wide range of sizes, shapes, grades, finishes and tolerances for a myriad of customer applications, predominately in the transportation, industrial equipment and agriculture markets. New equipment will be phased in over the next 12 months.

U.S. Steel plans to spend at least $750 million to upgrade its century-old Gary Works steel mill in Gary, Ind. According to the company, the investment will help preserve approximately 3,900 jobs and will allow the company to become more competitive by upgrading technology and giving workers new tools. In March, U.S. Steel announced it was restarting one of two blast furnaces and the steelmaking facilities at its Granite City Works, an integrated steelmaking plant in Granite City, Ill.  

Steel is an amazing material when you consider its versatility. Steel can achieve the needed characteristics for a vast array of end products; it is relatively low cost compared to many other materials; it is endlessly recyclable without loss of property; and it can be mass produced, with annual global production of over 1.5 billion tons.

JSW Steel announced its proposal to invest $500 million to acquire and upgrade Acero Junction Inc. of Mingo Junction, Ohio, an integrated steel manufacturing plant with a potential annual capacity of 3 million tons. India’s JSW Steel says the investment will be made in two phases, the first of which will be to recondition and restart the electric-arc furnace (EAF) and slab caster and modernize the hot-strip mill. The second phase will depend on economic conditions, but it could include the addition of another EAF and other assets.

Gerdau Special Steel North America – three years after completing a $155.6 million capital investment at the same facility – is launching an additional $70.3 million project at its Monroe, Mich., special steel mill. This round of investment will include a new electric-arc furnace (EAF) transformer, controls and mechanical upgrades in the EAF, and a new twin-ladle furnace and material-handling system.

voestalpine officially began the three-year construction phase for its special steel plant in Kapfenberg, Austria. Once it opens in 2021, the fully digitized facility will produce approximately 205,000 tons of high-performance steels per year for the international aerospace and automotive industries. The project is expected to create more than 3,000 highly skilled jobs in the region over the long term.

Republic Steel announced that it is positioned to restart its Lorain, Ohio, facility, including its idled electric-arc furnace, casters and rolling mills, on short notice as a response to the recently announced steel tariff. Republic currently has open capacity at its Canton melt shop and would restart Lorain, which would provide more than 1 million tons of new production capacity to support the SBQ bar and coil and seamless tube round markets. This could result in the company bringing back over 1,000 jobs to its Lorain facility.  

The new advanced quench-and-temper facility (AQTF) heat-treatment line supplied by SMS group to TimkenSteel at its Gambrinus Steel Plant in Canton, Ohio, commenced full commercial production. Extensive testing was successfully completed in November 2017. The line is able to treat 10 tons per hour of bars and heavy-walled tubes up to 13 inches in diameter.