Steel Mills
US Steel Wants to Build EAF at Fairfield
Written by John Packard
February 4, 2014
Mario Longhi, CEO of U.S. Steel announced to those on the US Steel conference call that the company has started the process of replacing the existing blast furnace at the Fairfield, Alabama facility with a brand new electric arc furnace (EAF).
During the call, Mr. Longhi advised that the expect the permitting process to take 9-12 months. If approved, the expect construction could begin by the 3rd Quarter 2015 and would be completed by mid-2017.
The EAF would replace the sole blast furnace at the USS Fairfield facility which is capable of producing 6,000 tons a day or 2.19 million tons per year. The new EAF would have a capacity of 1.1 million tons which means the company anticipates eliminating 1.0-1.1 million tons of raw steel production at the Fairfield, Alabama facility. Even so, the company does not believe they will be giving up any customers in the process as they can be covered through other facilities. The company is currently running at 80 percent of capacity with their existing equipment.
The substrate coming off the new EAF would be focused on their pipe and tube operations.
Mr. Longhi believes the addition of the EAF would improve the company’s raw materials position and reduce their exposure to coke.
John Packard
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