Top 10 Companies for Future Metals & Minerals Industry Project Spending in North America Total $13 Billion

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Based on total investment value (TIV) of projects that have yet to begin construction, the Top 10 Metals & Minerals Industry companies for future project spending in North America are planning a combined $13.1 billion from 33 major projects in the U.S. and Canada. Number one on the list is German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp AG, which has set plans in motion to begin construction late in 2007 on a $3.7 billion steel mill complex and terminal north of Mobile, Alabama.

Click on the image at right to view the Top 10 Metals & Minerals Industry Companies List

The Top 10 Metals & Minerals Industry Companies List includes three steel makers, one coal miner, and six metal mining companies. The steelmakers, in addition to ThyssenKrupp, include another newcomer to the North American market Essar Steel Limited (Mumbai, India) and Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE ) (Charlotte, North Carolina). Essar recently jumped into the North American steel scene with major acquisitions of Canadian steelmaker Algoma Steel Limited for $1.6 billion and start-up firm Minnesota Steel Industries LLC (Saint Paul, Minnesota). At Algoma Steel, Essar envisions an investment exceeding $500 million to expand mill capacity and for an interim rebuild of the #7 blast furnace. Essar’s Minnesota Steel project represents a $1.6 billion investment in a new mine-mouth iron ore mine and integrated steel mill complex. Nucor is planning $868 million worth of new mills and upgrades to existing operations. Nucor’s future plans are in addition to about $400 million in active project work that is already under construction including a new $250 million specialty quality steel bar mill underway in Memphis, Tennessee. Major equipment is scheduled to be installed this fall for an early 2008 start-up.

Metals prices have led to a revival of sorts for mining projects, which can be seen in the six metals mining companies on the Top 10 list. These companies are developing copper, nickel and gold mining and processing operations.

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