BUTLER, INDIANA — May 23, 1997 — Steel Dynamics, Inc.
(NASDAQ symbol: STLD) today announced its intention to commence
construction of the first commercial module of Iron Dynamics, Inc.
(“IDI”) at its Butler, Indiana plant site pending the resolution of
outstanding items such as the receipt of its air and building permits as
well as certain other unresolved issues.
IDI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Steel Dynamics formed for the
purpose of constructing and operating a 520,000 metric tonne annual
capacity plant for the manufacture of direct reduced iron (“DRI”). The
DRI, after further processing into 450,000 tonnes of liquid pig iron,
will be used in SDI’s mini-mill as a steel scrap substitute.
IDI considered many alternative methods of manufacturing a low cost
source of steel scrap substitute material. Some of these methods are in
limited commercial use while others have not been tested commercially,
either for their ability to successfully yield useable substitute iron
units or, even if technologically successful, their ability to do so at a
cost that makes its use as a scrap substitute commercially feasible.
The existing commercial processes differ by the type of raw feedstock
they employ and the type of reductant that is used to “reduce” the
feedstock to useable or semi-finished iron units. IDI intends to use the
IDI Process, a technology developed by the company, which uses low cost
iron ore fines that are ultimately reduced to DRI in a rotary hearth
furnace using coal as the reductant. The DRI will subsequently be
converted into liquid pig iron that is principally free of gangue and
sulfur.
The Company expects this project, which will employ 65 people, to be
completed in 1998. The IDI facility is estimated to cost $85 million
including the capital costs for a new technology that will be utilized
in the post-reduction smelting of the DRI. This type of facility could
be easily expanded onsite or duplicated at another location to support
commercial opportunities.
Steel Dynamics, Inc. is now providing a broad range of flat-rolled
products to the market, including light gauge micro-alloyed and high
strength steels for demanding automotive applications. |