Steel Mills

SDI To Commission Four Value-Add Lines Before End of Q1’24

October 19, 2023

Steel Dynamics Inc. provided an update on the four new coating lines it is adding to its Heartland flat-rolled processing mill and Sinton sheet mill on its third-quarter earnings conference call with analysts on Thursday, Oct. 19. The projects were originally announced in 2021.

SDI Heartland

The new painting and galvanizing lines at SDI Heartland in Terre Haute, Ind., could be up and running by the end of the year, EVP and CFO Theresa Wagler said on the call. If not by year’s end, then early in the first quarter of 2024.

The new Heartland galvanizing line will be able to process 300,000 tons per year of flat-rolled steel and will also have Galvalume coating capabilities. The new paint line will have a capacity of 240,000 tons per year.

The Heartland mill currently has the capacity to produce 1 million tons of cold-rolled steel, with galvanizing capacity of 360,000 tons, according to SDI’s website. SDI purchased the mill in 2018 from CSN for $400 million.

SDI Sinton

Sinton’s new paint and galvanizing lines are now anticipated to be commissioned shortly after the Heartland lines in Q1’24, SDI’s chairman and CEO Mark Millett said on the call.

The $225-million project is adding a 300,000-ton-per-year flat-rolled galvanizing line, also with Galvalume coating capabilities, and a 240,000-ton-per-year paint line.

The startup of the Sinton, Texas, mill has not been without issue. The mill was originally announced in 2019, and construction began early in 2020. At that time, operations were expected to begin by mid-2021. Startup of the hot end was delayed for various reasons, including severe flooding, but occurred early in 2022. This year, the mill had an unplanned outage for the entire month of July due to caster shear equipment issues. The outage resulted in an estimated 90,000 tons of lost production.

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.