In announcing its fiscal 2020 earnings, the company said the project remains a priority, despite the pandemic-driven revision to its schedule.

“Despite slowing development to preserve cash flow during COVID-19, the project is progressing well,” said BlueScope managing director chief executive Mark Vassella.

“We have been encouraged by North Star’s performance during the past six months and by the rate of capacity rationalization in North Star’s region and the broader U.S., further reinforcing our belief in the investment case. The project remains a key capital allocation priority given the long-term value we expect it will create,” he said.

The company is adding 850,000 metric tons of capacity to the North Star facility by way of a third electric arc furnace and a second caster. It greenlighted the project last summer.

The company said civil and building construction has progressed on schedule and design engineering has progressed significantly. It expects to begin receiving key plant equipment in the second half of this year.

Once construction is complete, BlueScope will spend the following 18 months ramping up the facility.

Executives said the ramp-up schedule is based on the recommendations of the original equipment manufacturers and reflects the complexity of integrating the new equipment into an existing facility.

“This is an enormously complex brownfield project with many, many integration points back into the existing operation. So it’s not a walk in the park,” said chief financial officer Tania Archibald.  

However, Vassella said the company will push to complete the ramp-up as quickly as possible.

“If we can do it (in less time than that), rest assured, we’ll be pushing as hard as we can to get it ramped up as quickly as we can,” he said.