Final Thoughts
Ternium Confirms Pesquería as Site of New EAF Slab Mill
Written by Laura Miller
June 21, 2023
Ternium announced this week that its new slab mill will be built in Pesquería, Nuevo León, Mexico.
The Luxembourg-based Latin American steelmaker had said earlier this year it would build an electric-arc furnace (EAF) and direct-reduced iron (DRI) facility in North America. Brownsville, Texas, had been rumored to be in the running for the new mill’s location, but the announcement this week confirms Pesquería as the official site.
The $3.2-billion project includes a new EAF, two secondary metallurgy furnaces, an RH-type vacuum system, and a continuous casting machine with two lines. It will include carbon-capture capabilities, as well as the ability to switch from natural gas to hydrogen use for DRI production. Its annual production capacity will be approximately 2.86 million net tons (2.6 million metric tons) of cast steel.
Construction is expected to begin in December, and operations are slated to begin in the first half of 2026.
The new mill is meant to complement the new, 4.5-million-ton-per-year Pesquería hot strip mill (HSM), which began operations in 2021, Ternium said. As recently as April, the company reported the HSM to be running at roughly 88% of capabilities.
The new slab mill will be sited at the steelmaker’s downstream Pesquería facility, currently under construction. That $1-billion project is adding a 1.5-million-tpy pickling and tandem cold mill, a 500,000-tpy galvanizing line, and related finishing equipment.
“We are thrilled to announce the selection of Pesquería, Nuevo León, as the official location for our new upstream production capacity project,” Ternium’s CEO Máximo Vedoya said in a statement. “This decision is a significant milestone for our company as we continue to integrate our downstream manufacturing capabilities to serve all our customers in Mexico while solidifying our position as a leading player in the USMCA region.”
By Laura Miller, laura@steelmarketupdate.com
Laura Miller
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