Speaking during the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call, Barbara Smith said the mill is on track for start-up in the spring. 

“Once (the mill) is ramped up, CMC will be operating one of the most unique steelmaking complexes anywhere in the world,” she told analysts during the call. 

The mill, dubbed Arizona 2, will be CMC’s second Arizona mill, sitting adjacent to its original micro-mill in Mesa. “We expect this arrangement of the two steel plants will provide synergies, including shared staff support, production optimization, improved production scheduling and shared site infrastructure,” Smith said.  

The mill has an announced capacity of 500,000 tons and will produce both merchant bar and rebar, with rebar accounting for roughly two-thirds of the product mix. Smith said the mill’s opening will be well-timed, coinciding with new projects arising from the federal infrastructure act passed last year. 

“At full run rate, (the infrastructure plan) is expected to increase federal funding for core rebar consuming projects such as highways, bridges and related structures by 65% compared to the FAST Act that it replaced,” Smith said. 

“We estimate the impact will be 1.5 million tons of incremental annual rebar demand within a domestic market of roughly 9 million tons, representing an approximately 17% increase in consumption. Spending is expected to ramp up over five years and assuming typical time frames for project approvals, bidding, and awarding, we should begin to see some impact on construction activity in calendar year 2023.”

Smith also said reshoring of critical industries will drive additional demand. Case in point, she said, are the large semiconductor plants that are being planned or are under construction. 

“Currently, there are at least 11 facilities planned to be constructed with related total investment of over US$275 billion. CMC is already shipping to several of these projects, but most are yet to break ground and impact rebar consumption," Smith said.   

As CMC winds down construction on the Arizona mill, it will begin ramping up work on its West Virginia micro-mill, the site for which was announced in December.  

“The site selection process took longer than anticipated, but we are confident that CMC has chosen an excellent location within a state that is supportive of manufacturing innovation,” Smith said. 

“The planned site location on West Virginia's eastern panhandle will provide excellent access to the dense rebar consuming markets of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. Nearly 60 million people live within a standard shipping radius of this site, providing a variety of commercial opportunities across a number of major metropolitan areas,” she said.