May 8, 2006 — Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp. and Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) jointly announced that they are in discussions concerning a strategic alliance in North America that could involve a minority investment in Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp., a long term slab supply arrangement and other strategic considerations.

The companies caution that there can be no assurance that a strategic alliance will be successfully concluded.

Wheeling-Pittsburgh was organized as a Delaware corporation on June 27, 1920 under the name Wheeling Steel Corp. Its headquarters is located in Wheeling, W.Va., with major production facilities in the Upper Ohio and Monongahela valleys. Wheeling-Pittsburgh is a holding company that, together with its several subsidiaries and joint ventures, produces steel and steel products using both integrated and electric arc furnace technology. The company has slab making production capacity of 2.8 million tons and hot rolling capacity of 3.4 million tons. Approximately 65% of the company’s sales are comprised of high value-added products.

Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) was founded on April 9, 1941 and privatized in 1993. As the first integrated flat steel producer in Brazil, CSN played a historical role in the country's industrialization process. In addition to steel production, the company has operations in mining, infrastructure and cement businesses. CSN has 8,542 employees and has crude steel annual production of 5.6 million tonnes. Its assets consist of an integrated steel mill, four industrial units, two of them abroad (United States and Portugal), iron ore, limestone, dolomite and tin mines, the largest flat steel distributor of Brazil, two port terminals, as well as a share in railroads and two hydroelectric plants.