ArcelorMittal to build EAF in Alabama

Integrated steelmaker ArcelorMittal is building a new electric arc furnace (EAF) at its joint venture with Nippon Steel in Calvert, Alabama.

The EAF will have a capacity of 1.5mn metric ton (t)/yr of steel slabs to feed the hot strip mill at the joint venture, which has a capacity of 5.3mn t/yr.

Construction on the EAF is expected to take 24 months. The EAF allows the company to be more responsive to local market conditions and aligns the facility better with requirement in the recently enacted United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), chief executive Lakshmi Mittal said.

The mill currently relies on imported slabs to produce steel for the automotive, construction, pipe and tube, service center, and appliance industries, according to the company's website.

The EAF is the latest to be considered in the US. Big River Steel in Arkansas is set to fire up its new EAF expansion by the end of 2020, while other EAF expansions at Nucor's Gallatin, Kentucky mill and BlueScope's North Star mill in Ohio are set to come online in the next few years. Steel Dynamics (SDI) is planning a new, 3mn short ton (st)/yr flat-rolled mill in Sinton, Texas, that is set to startup in mid-2021.

By Rye Druzin