Metals Chips
By Tom Stundza -- Purchasing, 3/12/2009 2:00:00 AM
Sandmeyer Steel has installed the fourth abrasive waterjet cutter at its Philadelphia stainless steel and nickel alloy plate processing center. The four machines have seven cutting heads capable of producing near net-shapes and intricate parts.
Nucor Corp. has delayed start-up of a new $150 million hot-dip galvanizing facility in Decatur, Ala., due to a lack of steel orders. John Ferriola, Nucor's COO, confirms the decision to delay the start-up from this quarter, saying it was entirely tied to the economic downturn.
Coil coater Precoat Metals plans to shut its processing plant in McKeesport, Pa., by the end of March. Jeff Widenor, vice president of strategic planning and business development at the St. Louis-based company, says there is overcapacity in the coil coating industry. The firm will transfer McKeesport's work to its eight other plants that have 11 coil coating lines.
Fulton County Processing plans to expand its Delta, Ohio, plant by 85,000 square feet to 250,000 square feet and add a fourth coil-processing line with a new slitter in March, says James VanPoppel, president, in a statement. Founded in 2002, the joint venture between VanPoppel Enterprises, Heidtman Steel Products and Kelco Metals processes and distributes hot-rolled, cold-rolled, pickled and galvanized sheet in coils.
Eramet Marietta plans to cut ferrochrome output indefinitely in Marietta, Ohio, in March due to the slump in demand from the steel industry. The company also will shut its silicomanganese furnace offline for 60 days in mid-March and idle one of two ferromanganese furnaces for 90 days in May.
Chesterfield, Mo.-based American Piping Products has received new equity funding from Chicago-based Edgewater Funds, which the specialty steel pipe distributor will use to service center plans to use to expand supply of heavy-wall seamless stainless and chrome-molybdenum pipe.
KB Alloys has completed a $2-million expansion of its strontium metal production plant in Henderson, Ky. The equipment installations were focused on upgrading casting centers and conforming equipment used to produce strontium-aluminum alloys in ingot, bar and rod shapes.
Swiss trading house Glencore International has acquired a controlling 88% stake in Katanga Mining, a London-based mining company aiming to develop the largest copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Katanga posted the worst 2008 performance in the 162-company Bloomberg World Mining Index. "So, without this deal, Katanga was probably going out of business," says mining analyst Cailey Barker at RBC Capital Markets in London.
Aluminum wheel supplier Superior Industries International will close its manufacturing facility in Van Nuys, Calif., by the end of the second quarter in an effort to reduce costs and more closely align capacity with sharply lower demand for light vehicles. The company says it has sufficient capacity at its remaining five plants in North America and joint venture in Hungary to accommodate current and expected production requirements.
Ivy Steel & Wire Co., a manufacturer of welded wire reinforcement products, will permanently shut one of its two wire mesh facilities in Houston in mid-February. Reason: The firm says the construction economy is slow and first-quarter orders are down 40% as wire mesh buyers are working off inventories.
Strategic Resource Acquisition of Canada and its U.S. operating subsidiary, Mid-Tennessee Zinc, filed for bankruptcy. The firm hopes for bankruptcy court approvals to continue day-to-day operations while it drafts a restructuring plan. The parent firm last October stopped production at its zinc mine and mill complex in Gordonsville, Tenn., and halted construction projects at the Cumberland and Elmwood mines, also in Tennessee.
Olympic Steel has installed a 0.375-inch-thick blanking line with a stretcher leveler at its Plymouth, Minn., facility to process sheet steel coils up to 72 inches wide with a maximum weight of 30 tons.
High-performance alloy manufacturer Haynes International of Kokomo, Ind., is slashing its work force by 12%, freezing the pay of salaried employees to reduce costs after a year of disappointing sales. These actions "are unfortunate, but necessary in light of the current economic environment," says CEO Mark Comerford in a statement. He says Haynes' $200 million backlog at the end of 2008 was down 13% in revenue dollars and 4% decline in volume from the end of the third quarter.'
U.S. Magnesium is curtailing production at its Rowley, Utah, plant, starting in March due to weak demand—and delaying capacity expansion beyond the current 52,000 metric tons/year "until market conditions improve."
Toronto-based copper miner First Metals has filed for bankruptcy protection in an attempt to orchestrate a company wide restructuring plan. The company's assets include a copper complex in Quebec and copper, zinc, gold and silver deposits, also in Quebec,
Heartland Metals of Middlesboro, Ky., plans to build a structural steel service center in Washington Court House, Ohio. The firm plans to erect a 60,000-square-foot building that could be expanded to 120,000 square feet as business grows.
Steel distributor McNeilus Steel of Dodge City, Minn., plans to build an 84,000-square-foot facility in Fond du Lac, Wis., to process and distribute hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel sheet, plates, pipes and tubes and stainless steel products.
Specialty steelmaker Ellwood Group of Ellwood City, Pa., has sold its overseas company, Ellwood Steel Belgium, to Georgsmarienhütte Holding of Germany. Now known as Engineering Steel Belgium, the firm specializes in bottom-poured ingots and continuously cast rounds.
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