US steelmaker Steel Dynamics (SDI) will build its new flat-rolled steel mill in Sinton, Texas, near Corpus Christi.

The Indiana-based steelmaker chose the site, located 30 miles (48km) northwest of the port of Corpus Christi, for its 3mn st/yr hot-rolled coil (HRC) facility over Louisiana. The electric arc furnace (EAF) mill will cost $1.9bn to build, with construction beginning early next year and operations beginning in mid-2021.

The facility will also have a galvanizing line with a capacity of 550,000 st/yr and a paint line with a coating capacity of 250,000 st/yr. SDI said it will produce advanced high-strength steel grades, including some energy products not currently produced domestically.

SDI said the Sinton location was ideal because of its proximity to major consumers in Texas, the western US and Mexico as well as supply of prime scrap and other metallic raw materials via Corpus Christi. Austrian producer Voestalpine operates a hot-briquetted iron plant in Corpus Christi.

Sinton will be SDI's seventh EAF-based steel mill and third flat-rolled facility, joining Butler, Indiana, and Columbus, Mississippi. Those mills can produce 6.4mn st/yr of HRC.

SDI's new mill is the latest move by EAF-based steelmakers to build new capacity.

Big River Steel in Osceola, Arkansas, is planning to double its production to 3.3mn st/yr by the end of 2020, while North Star BlueScope's HRC mill in Delta, Ohio, is considering a 800,000-900,000t (882,000-992,000st) expansion. US leading steelmaker Nucor is also building a $1.35bn new plate mill in Kentucky.