“We are having weekly conversations with the equipment suppliers regarding the impact of COVID-19. I don’t believe our planned schedule has been meaningfully impacted thus far.”

He also said the company has signed long-term agreements with two customers to co-locate on the mill campus. Those customers, he said, represent annual steel-consuming and processing capability of more than 800,000 tons.

Meanwhile, the company is hiring staff and is preparing for an open application event next month, reports KRIS 6 news in Corpus Christi, Texas. SDI senior vice president Glenn Pushis, who is leading the mill’s construction, told the news station that the goal is to have 300 to 350 people on board by the end of the year. 

Separately, SDI said its Columbus, Miss., flat-roll mill started up its new galvanizing line earlier this month. 

Millett said the line produced its first prime coil on 9 July.

“This is (the Columbus Flat Roll Division’s) fourth value-added line investment and will allow them to sell significantly more higher-margin products, while also providing a ready hot band consumer base in the South for our anticipated new Texas flat roll steel mill,” Millett said. 

The line is capable of processing 400,000 tons annually. At the time the project was announced, SDI said it would coat sheet in thicknesses from 0.013 inch to 0.160 inch and in widths from 36 inches to 72 inches.