Dan DiMicco, Chairman and CEO of Nucor, along with Economic Development Secretary, Stephen Moret and Governor Bobby Jindal celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony for new direct reduced iron (DRI) processing plant.
The new facility will be constructed in St. James Parish, Louisiana. The company has invested $750 million in the DRI plant.
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality issued an air permit to Nucor in January 2011 that enabled the company to order the equipment for the new facility. The permit assures that the plant will fulfill federal and state environmental standards.
Nucor has also been permitted to build two new plants, which will produce 5,500,000 tons of direct reduced iron annually. The DRI facility is the first phase of the development plan and was initiated after comprehensive site selection and discussions with federal and state lawmakers.
The first phase of development includes pellet plant, coke facility, steel mill and blast furnace. Iron ore pellets and natural gas are converted into DRI by direct reduction technology. This high-quality iron is used by Nucor to produce various steel products such as special bar steel, plates and sheets.
Till date, the company has made an investment of more than $50 million to buy property for the new facility in the Mississippi River. It will increase the investment to over $3 billion, if additional phases are constructed.
Source: http://www.nucor.com/