Top Companies in U.S. Metals & Minerals Plan Long-Term Maintenance Kickoffs Next Quarter

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The U.S. Metals & Minerals Industry, particularly the steel-making sector, requires heavy loads of heat and energy to keep production moving, which means equipment must be in the best shape to handle constant pressure. Industrial Info is tracking more than 270 maintenance-related projects, valued at nearly $590 million, at U.S. Metals & Minerals facilities in first-quarter 2019, the bulk of which are attributed to steel and cement production.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing the top 10 U.S. states for Metals & Minerals maintenance project kickoffs in first-quarter 2019.

The Great Lakes region, often considered the top U.S. region for steel production, will be home to a slew of maintenance projects from the top two producers for first-quarter Metals & Minerals turnarounds: AK Steel Corporation (NYSE:AKS) (West Chester, Ohio) and United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) (U.S. Steel) (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). AK Steel's projects include steel mill and coke plant turnarounds at its steel works facility in Middletown, Ohio, as well as a turnaround at its steel works facility in Dearborn, Michigan. Each is expected to wrap up in fourth-quarter 2019. For details, see Industrial Info's reports on the Middletown steel mill and coke plant projects, and the Dearborn project.

U.S. Steel's projects in the Great Lakes region include rolling mill and melt shop turnarounds at the Great Lakes Steel Works plant in Ecorse, Michigan, as well as a shutdown at the Gary Works Steel Mill in Gary, Indiana. As with the AK Steel projects, each is slated to wrap up in the fourth quarter. In a recent earnings-related conference call, David Burritt, the chief executive officer of U.S. Steel, said the extended outage at Great Lakes Steel Works is "a big deal for us" and that it will last "a bit longer than we had originally planned, but we're able to get more things done" because of it. For details, see Industrial Info's reports on the Great Lakes rolling mill and melt shop projects, and the Gary project.

ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE:MT) (Luxembourg), another industry leader, has five maintenance projects set to begin construction in the first two months of the year and conclude in December:

• carbon steel-processing plant in Calvert, Alabama, which includes a 5.3 million-ton-per-year hot strip mill; see project report
• steel works plant in Cleveland, Ohio, which includes a 3.8 million-ton-per-year steel mill; see project report
• steel works plant in Burns Harbor, Indiana, which processes 5 million tons per year; see project report
• tubular plant #1 in Shelby, Ohio, which manufactures 240,000 tons per year of seamless steel pipes and tubes; see project report
• tubular plant #2 in Shelby, which manufactures 240,000 tons per year of seamless steel pipes and tubes; see project report

Cement-related turnarounds tend to be less expensive and cover shorter time spans. Projects that are set to wrap up within three months of kicking off next quarter include:

• Votorantim Cimentos' (São Paulo, Brazil) shutdown of the kiln and raw mill at the St. Mary's Cement Plant in Charlevoix, Michigan, at which the dry rotary kiln produces 6,000 tons per day; see project report
• Cemex Incorporated's (Houston, Texas) shutdown of the Black Mountain Quarry and Cement Kilns in Apple Valley, California, which includes a 5,500-ton-per-day dry rotary kiln; see project report
• HeidelbergCement AG's (Heidelberg, Germany) shutdown of the Lehigh Hanson plant in Sellersburg, Indiana, which includes two dry rotary kilns with capacities of 900 and 1,750 tons per day; see project report
• HeidelbergCement's shutdown of the Lehigh Hanson plant in Tehachapi, California, which includes a 2,600-ton-per-day dry rotary kiln; see project report

Longer-term maintenance projects at cement plants include American Silica LLC's (Black Rock, Arkansas) shutdowns at a cement plant in Midlothian, Texas, which produces 2.4 million tons per year, and LafargeHolcim Limited's (Jona, Switzerland) maintenance programs at a Portland cement plant in Florence, Colorado, which produces 2 million tons per year. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the Midlothian and Florence projects.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.