"There’s unused land there, so we’re thinking about expanding. If we do that, it will be 100% owned by ArcelorMittal,” ArcelorMittal North America chief executive John Brett said, delivering the keynote speech at the annual AISTech President’s Award Breakfast.

ArcelorMittal in 2022 acquired an 80% ownership stake in the plant from its original builder, voestalpine. Brett said the plant has been an important investment, securing a source of ore-based metallics for slabs that are finished at its joint-venture Calvert, Ala., rolling mill.

The plant is part of a broader package of North American investments ArcelorMittal is making as it moves to reduce its carbon intensity while maintaining the capability to produce high-quality steels.  

Brett during his speech said the steel industry should not peg its hopes for a future in which North America realizes its carbon goals on the reuse of scrap alone. To the contrary, he said, ore-based metallics will be an important raw material.  

Brett said that recent investments are adding 16 million tons of capacity in the U.S., all of it EAF-based and most of it, 85%, dedicated to flat-rolled products. That new capacity will require 10 million to 12 million tons of prime scrap or ore-based metallics.

The U.S. is already import-dependent for prime scrap, he said, with the U.S. shipping in 2 million tons annually. Meanwhile, direct reduced iron (DRI) capacity is expected to outstrip direct reduction pellet supply by 19 million tons in less than 10 years.

That in mind, Brett said the company is converting its 10 million tons of Canadian iron ore pellet production to direct-reduction-grade pellets. The upshot, Brett said, is that the company’s North American flat-rolled output will be predominately supported by HBI and DRI within the next five or so years.