Nucor announced the micro-mills in 2017 and 2018, saying that the facilities will give it a cost advantage over competitors who are shipping in rebar over long distances. 

The mills are based on Danieli’s micro-mill technology, which melts, casts and rolls steel in a single uninterrupted step. Danieli said in a statement that each of the plants will feature a 40-ton side-charge AC electric arc furnace and a ladle treatment furnace. The EAF furnace will be fed via Danieli’s ECS continuous scrap-charging system. 

It also said the casting and rolling section will include a single-strand, high-speed continuous caster equipped with Danieli’s PowerMould and FastCast Cube oscillator. It will be directly connected to a 16-stand rolling mill. The finishing end will include Danieli’s Direct Rolling & Bundling system and its K-Spool system for production of spooled bar. 

The Florida and Missouri plants will annually produce more than 350,000 tons of straight and coiled rebar in a variety of sizes, grades and lengths, Danieli said.