Steel Mills

Algoma Finalizes Government Financing for Two New EAFs

Written by Michael Cowden

November 30, 2021

Algoma Steel Inc. has secured Canadian $220 million (U.S. $172 million) in funding from the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) to help pay for its conversion to electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking.

The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based steelmaker said the government money would pay for equipment for the project, which carries a total price tag of approximately C$700 million ($548 million).

Algoma

The switch to the EAF route is expected to lower Algoma’s CO2 emissions by an estimated 70% (3.3 million tons per year) – or roughly the equivalent of taking the 900,000 passenger vehicles in Toronto off the road, the company said in a press release.

The definitive agreement with the CIB comes after Algoma announced on Nov. 11 that its board had officially approved adding two EAFs.

Algoma – which makes hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil as well as plate – currently makes liquid metal via the blast furnace route. That process relies on the carbon-intensive coking process. Metallurgical coal and coke batteries won’t be necessary once the company has new scrap-based EAFs up and running.

By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

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