North Star BlueScope opens expansion

Electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker North Star BlueScope has opened its expansion at its Delta, Ohio, flat-rolled mill.

The 850,000 metric tonnes (t)/yr (937,000 short tons/yr) expansion is expected to fully ramp up its production over the next 18 months and bring the mill's total production to 2.95mn t/yr. The opening of the expansion was announced in a 10 May tweet by Ohio Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, who attended the ribbon cutting ceremony.

In April, Australian steelmaker BlueScope, which owns the Ohio mill, announced the purchase of the metals coating business of Cornerstone Building Brands for $500mn. The acquisition almost tripled BlueScope's US metallic coating and painting capacity to more than 1.3mn t/yr from a current capacity of around 475,000 t/yr.

The expansion is the latest new flat-rolled capacity coming on line in the US. EAF steelmaker Nucor is working to fully commission its 1.4mn st/yr flat-rolled expansion at its Gallatin, Kentucky, mill by June.

EAF steelmaker Steel Dynamics (SDI) is ramping up its new 3mn st/yr flat-rolled mill in Sinton, Texas, which is expected to ship 1.5mn st of products in 2022, down by 500,000st from prior estimates.

By Rye Druzin