U.S. Metals & Minerals Industry Fires Up Nearly $1 Billion in 2018 Maintenance Projects

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Plants, factories and other facilities in the U.S. Metals & Minerals Industry need regular maintenance to address the wear-and-tear from heavy-duty work. Industrial Info is tracking more than $913 million worth of active maintenance projects in the U.S. Metals & Minerals Industry that have kicked off, or are expected to kick off, this year, with the steel-manufacturing sector accounting for nearly half of the total investment value (TIV).

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing the top 10 U.S. states for active Metals & Minerals maintenance projects set to kick off in 2018.

Ohio's vaunted status in the steel-manufacturing sector puts it at the top the list, with AK Steel Corporation (NYSE:AKS) (West Chester, Ohio) and TimkenSteel Corporation (NYSE:TMST) (Canton, Ohio) accounting for four of the highest-valued programs. AK Steel is performing full-year maintenance at a 2 million-ton-per-year steel mill and a 1.2 million-ton-per-year coke plant at its steel works complex in Middletown. Both involve staggered shutdowns that began in January and continue through December. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the steel mill and coke plant projects.

TimkenSteel is at work on a pair of maintenance projects at two nearby facilities: a third-quarter shutdown at Faircrest Steel Mill and a second-half shutdown at Harrison Steel Mill in Canton. The Faircrest mill produces 1 million tons per year of melted steel and is expected to have a single one-week shutdown, while the Harrison mill produces 630,000 tons per year of melted and 850,000 tons per year of rolled steel, and is expected to have a pair of one-week shutdowns. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the Faircrest and Harrison projects.

Indiana has the second-highest TIV, and ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) (Luxembourg) has active maintenance projects in both states. The company is performing staggered shutdowns on units at its 3.8 million-ton-per-year steel works plant in Cleveland, Ohio; 5 million-ton-per-year steel works complex in Burns Harbor, Indiana; and 3.6 million-ton-per-year east steel works and west steel works facilities in East Chicago, Indiana. The shutdown programs kicked off during the first half of the year, and are set to wrap up throughout the fourth quarter. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the Cleveland, Burns Harbor, east East Chicago and west East Chicago projects.

The U.S. Southeast region's policies on taxes and labor unions have made it a destination for steel producers in recent years, and Alabama has seen its footprint in the market grow. American Cast Iron Pipe Company (Birmingham, Alabama) is performing maintenance through the end of the year on a pair of mills, each with a capacity of 700,000 tons per year, at its steel pipe complex in Birmingham, while AM/NS Calvert, a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (Tokyo, Japan), is performing maintenance through November on a 5.3 million-ton-per-year hot strip mill at its carbon steel processing plant in Calvert. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the Birmingham and Calvert projects.

But the single highest-valued maintenance project is in Arizona, the only of the top 10 states from the Rocky Mountains region: Freeport-McMoRan Incorporated's (NYSE:FCX) (Phoenix, Arizona) three-week shutdown at its 850,000-ton-per-year copper smelter in Miami, Arizona. The facilities process copper from multiple sites. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

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