Stainless Steel Expansion Reaches Second Decade for North American Stainless in Kentucky

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). North American Stainless Company (Ghent, Kentucky), a subsidiary of Acerinox SA (Madrid, Spain) has entered its second decade of operation and expansion at its Kentucky stainless steel mill complex. Plans for expansion have been unceasing since the company was founded in 1990, as a joint venture between Spanish stainless steel producer Acerinox and U.S. based Armco. Acerinox eventually acquired, and now has, 100% interest in the mill.

For over a decade, North American Stainless has spent in excess of $1 billion on its flagship stainless steel mill located on 1,100 acres in Carroll County, Ghent, Kentucky. Gray Construction (Lexington, Kentucky) constructed the first phase, a $222 million project (PEC 23000215, 23000213), which included hot and cold rolling mills, an annealing line, and a pickling line to produce 150,000 tons per year of finished stainless steel sheet and strip products. The first mill began operating in 1993.

A cut-to-length line was added in 1994 (PEC 23000455). In 1995, the company spent $70 million to expand its cold rolling capacity (PEC 23000548) by 90,000 tons per year. This included a second Z-mill, slitter, and barge unloading facilities.

In 1996, the company began a $263 million hot rolling mill addition (PEC 23000671). This included construction of a hot strip and plate rolling Steckel mill, work roll, in-line grinding and roughing mill to increase capacity up to one million tons per year. Hitachi America (Tarrytown, New York) supplied the equipment and Centerline Engineering (Wexford, Pennsylvania) the construction management for the project. Also included in the project was construction of a $10 million 350 gallon per minute hot mill wastewater treatment plant (PEC 23000714).

In 2000, the company began work on a project to add 800,000 tons of melting capacity, which would make it a fully integrated mill. The $285 million project (PEC 230001129) included a 600,000 square foot building, bringing total square footage to over a million square feet. The steel melt shop engineered by Datel Engineering Company (Dayton, Ohio), and equipment, including a 140-ton electric arc furnace, was provided by SMS Demag (Coraopolis, Pennsylvania).

In 2001, construction began on a $130 million third cold rolling mill and finishing line (PEC 23001261)

And the fun didn't stop there. Currently, the company is planning its fourth major expansion at the site. The $150 million expansion consists of a fourth cold rolling mill and grinding machine (PEC 23001552), and a second caster and second electric arc furnace in the steel mill melt shop (PEC 23001555). Construction of a second caster and a second electric arc furnace (EAF) is expected to start in the spring of 2004. Construction of the fourth cold rolling mill and grinding machine #4 is not expected to start until the spring of 2005.

North American Stainless recently opened a new steel slitting and coil processing plant in Minooka, Illinois. The heart of the new 150,000 square foot plant is a Stamco slitting line that will handle master coils weighing up to 35 tons, in sizes up to 1,600 millimeters wide and 4 millimeters thick. The line will operate with a loop and will process stainless steel at a rate of up to 200 meters/minute. A rail line has been brought into the plant to accommodate delivery of coils from North American Stainless' steel mill in Ghent. CV Engineering (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) supplied engineering services for the $7 million project.

The Acerinox Group currently has three major fully integrated stainless steel manufacturing plants at Campo de Gilbraltar, Spain, Ghent, Kentucky, and Middlebourg, South Africa, with a total capacity of 2.5 million tons.