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Nucor Selects St. James Parish for Iron Making Facility
09/16/2010 - Nucor Corp. has selected St. James Parish, Louisiana, for the construction of a planned $750 million iron making facility, subject to receipt of all requisite environmental permits. The new facility will be owned and operated by Nucor Steel Louisiana, LLC, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Nucor.
Nucor Corp. has selected St. James Parish, Louisiana, for the construction of a planned $750 million iron making facility, subject to receipt of all requisite environmental permits. The new facility will be owned and operated by Nucor Steel Louisiana, LLC, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Nucor.
Nucor notes that it evaluated multiple sites both in the U.S. and abroad over the past several years. The company says the St. James Parish site was selected for many reasons, including a capable workforce and the commitment of state and local officials to this project.
The 2,500,000 tons-per-year iron making facility will use direct reduction technology to convert natural gas and iron ore pellets into high-quality direct reduced iron (DRI) used by Nucor's steel mills, along with recycled scrap, in producing numerous steel products such as sheet, plate, and special bar quality steel. The DRI facility is the first phase of a multi-phase plan that may include an additional DRI facility, coke plant, blast furnace, pellet plant and steel mill.
Nucor says that the DRI facility was chosen for the first phase of the project because it offers a carbon footprint that is one-third of that for the coke oven/blast furnace route for the same volume of product, but at less than half the capital cost. The company concedes that there is some loss/penalty in the "value in use" that will occur from DRI usage vs. pig iron usage, but it says that the technology improvements introduced and proven at its Trinidad and Tobago DRI plant have “significantly reduced” that typical penalty.
The project's first phase will require a $750 million investment and directly create 500 jobs during peak construction. One hundred and fifty permanent Nucor jobs will be created, earning an average annual salary of $75,000, plus benefits, the company claims. If the additional phases are built, over time Nucor could invest more than $3 billion total at the site and increase permanent employment to more than 1000.
Nucor anticipates issuing prior to year-end approximately $600 million in Gulf Zone Opportunity Bonds to partially fund the capital costs of the project.
Nucor and affiliates are manufacturers of steel products, with operating facilities primarily in the U.S. and Canada. Products produced include carbon and alloy steel—in bars, beams, sheet and plate; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; steel fasteners; metal building systems; light gauge steel framing; steel grating and expanded metal; and wire and wire mesh. Nucor, through The David J. Joseph Co., also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron and HBI/DRI; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Nucor is North America's largest recycler.
