JSW Planning Investment at Mingo Junction Mill

The company has proposed a $160 million investment for the mill, according to Samir Kapadia, principal at Vogel Group and lobbyist for JSW in Washington.

Kapadia recently met with Parth Jindal, heir of India’s JSW Steel (of which JSW Steel USA is a subsidiary), and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to discuss the planned investment.

“Subject to regulatory approvals, incentives and market conditions, this would enable the legacy steel mill to melt and manufacture steel slabs for the offshore wind market,” Kapadia said in a LinkedIn post.

Kapadia told SMU the proposed investment will make enhancements to the mill’s vacuum tank degasser and add new caster capabilities to make slabs with the widths required for offshore wind.

JSW’s Mingo Junction mill, the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh steel plant, has an electric-arc furnace and a hot strip mill with rated capacities of 1.65 million and 3.08 million tons per year, respectively, according to AIST’s Iron and Steel Works directory.

“There is tremendous demand from the Inflation Reduction Act to have clean, US-melted and manufactured metals outfit the infrastructure that’s required to build offshore wind facilities. It’s a heavily capital-intensive industry that requires US steel,” Kapadia explained. Thus this investment is a strategic move to serve customers in the industry.

The investment is “very much in alignment not just with JSW’s ethos around sustainable metals but a further commitment into their US melt and manufacture capabilities,” Kapadia added.

A spokesperson for JSW Steel USA did not confirm the investment, noting in an email to SMU that, “We are in the midst of finalizing a project but prefer not to comment at this time.”

An official announcement is expected at the beginning of May.

By Laura Miller, laura@steelmarketupdate.com