US Steel approves $3bn Mon Valley expansion

: Metals
26/10/22

US Steel's board of directors has approved roughly $3bn to expand and upgrade a hot-strip mill at the US integrated steelmaker's Mon Valley Works plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The investment will upgrade aging equipment at the Mon valley site and increase the plant's capacity to approximately 3.5mn short tons (st)/yr of flat-rolled steel from 2.2mn st/yr, the Nippon Steel subsidiary said on 22 October. The upgrades will also expand the range of steel products that can be produced at the plant.

Initial production is expected to start in late 2029, although US Steel is waiting on required permits to begin construction. The upgraded strip mill also promises to be more efficient by reducing steel cutting, scrap flows, waste production and fuel usage.

The investment comes alongside a planned $100mn slag granulator project at the Mon Valley mill. That project aims to cool and process blast furnace slag, a waste product of steelmaking, into a finished material that can be used in cement and construction.

By Aaron May

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