Steel Products Prices North America

Altex Opening New Tube Mill at SDI Columbus

Written by Laura Miller

July 15, 2022

Startup company Altex Tube LLC is setting up shop on the campus of Steel Dynamics Inc.’s flatrolled sheet mill in Columbus, Miss.

Altex’s new, $100 million HSS and mechanical tube mill will manufacture black and pre-galvanized steel tubing ranging in size from 1–6 inches square and 1.25–7.625 inches round, up to 48 feet in length and in thicknesses of 0.06–0.375 inches.

Construction of phase one of the project began this week with groundbreaking on July 14. The Mississippi Development Authority has been providing Altex with assistance in site preparation. Manufacturing is set to commence mid-2023 and a second phase will also begin in 2023. The project is expected to create 58 direct jobs.

President and CEO of Altex Tube, Zach Smith, told SMU that the company expects to be running close to 150,000 tons annually with phase one. When phase two is complete, the mill will be closer to 300,000 tons per year, he said.

“The Steel Dynamics team welcomes Altex Tube to our customer campus in Columbus, Miss. We are excited to add value to our mutual customers and provide quality products and unique supply-chain solutions to meet the growing needs of the structural tube market,” said Dan Keown, general manager of SDI’s Columbus Flat Roll Division.

SDI’s Columbus mill has an annual production capacity of 3.2 million tons of hot-rolled, cold-rolled, galvanized, galvannealed, Galvalume® and painted steel coiled sheet.

By Laura Miller, Laura@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.

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