Deal Finalized, Stelco’s Now U.S. Steel Canada 
United States Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, has completed its acquisition of Canadian steelmaker Stelco and renamed the new operation U.S. Steel Canada Inc. 

“This acquisition expands the footprint of our North American flat-rolled operations with facilities on both sides of the Great Lakes to better respond to customer needs, including the ability to process U.S. Steel Canada slabs at other U.S. Steel facilities,” says U.S. Steel Chairman and CEO John Surma.

The management team for U.S. Steel Canada includes: Douglas R. Matthews, president and general manager; William C. Harrison, vice president and chief financial officer; Charles J. Shuster, director-human resources; Scott D. Buckiso, plant manager-Lake Erie Works; and Bryan P. Vaughn, plant manager-Hamilton Works. 

“The leadership team that will oversee U.S. Steel Canada is composed of individuals with strong, diverse backgrounds acquired during years of service at U.S. Steel facilities in the United States and Central Europe,” says Surma. “Their experience, coupled with the talents and expertise of the employees they will work side-by-side with, will help ensure a smooth transition for the operations and the customers they serve.”

U.S. Steel Eyes $1 Billion
Coke Plant Investment
United States Steel Corp. is considering a $1 billion capital investment program at its Clairton Plant coke-making operation near Pittsburgh, which will enhance the company’s environmental performance and help to ensure the long-term viability of its Mon Valley Works operations, say company officials.

The program, which would take place over a period of years, involves the construction of two new technologically and environmentally advanced coke batteries and a cogeneration facility, along with environmentally focused rehabilitation of several existing coke batteries.

The new coke batteries would replace the current capacity of several older units and incorporate modern emissions control technology that would meet all regulatory requirements of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Allegheny County Health Department.

Coke oven gas from coke battery operations would be consumed in the proposed cogeneration facility, which would supply electricity for all three Pittsburgh-area Mon Valley Works facilities: the Clairton Plant; the Edgar Thomson Plant, a steelmaking operation in Braddock, Pa.; and the Irvin Plant, a rolling and finishing facility in West Mifflin, Pa.

U.S. Steel expects to file for environmental permits with the Allegheny County Health Department early next month. The decision to proceed with the program will depend upon receipt of the necessary permits, approval of U.S. Steel’s board and business conditions.

The Clairton Plant has an annual coke-making capability of approximately 4.7 million net tons. 

Esmark Completes
Wheeling-Pitt Acquisition,
Trades on NASDAQ
The stockholders of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp. and the stockholders of Esmark Inc. have overwhelmingly approved the combination of the two companies. The combined company will conduct business under the name Esmark Inc., and its common stock will trade on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “ESMK.” 

James P. Bouchard, chairman and CEO of the newly formed holding company, Esmark Inc., says the new company combines the strengths of Wheeling-Pittsburgh’s steelmaking assets with Esmark’s network of steel service centers across the Midwest, creating a stronger, well-capitalized company that can now singularly serve the production and distribution requirements of a unified customer base.

“With this task now accomplished, we must combine the advantages of this new organizational structure with the cost initiatives recently enacted at Wheeling- Pittsburgh to generate strong, recurring profits. Equipped with a much improved balance sheet and enhanced liquidity position resulting from this merger, we are poised to do just that,” Bouchard says.

Approximately 11.5 million of the 15.5 million shares outstanding voted, of which more than 93 percent voted in favor of the combination.  

ArcelorMittal Announces
Flat Products Price Hikes
Citing increasing raw material and energy costs, ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producer, announced price increases for flat steel products in 2008 for the NAFTA and European regions.

Economic conditions and demand for steel products remains firm in the BRIC countries, emerging Asia, Middle East and CIS regions. Coupled with slower but positive growth in Europe and a pick-up in apparent steel demand in the NAFTA region, ArcelorMittal officials predict global steel demand will grow around 6 percent in 2008.

In the U.S. market, having successfully achieved an average $20 per ton price increase for strip mill products in the fourth quarter, ArcelorMittal has announced a further increase of $40 per ton for deliveries as of Jan. 1. On top of rising raw material prices, current U.S. prices are below prevailing global market levels.

Going forward, low inventories, falling steel imports and relatively robust demand for high-quality steels should underpin a realignment of U.S. prices toward global market levels, the company claims.

In the EU, ArcelorMittal is to maintain 2007 prices during the first quarter and apply price increases in the second quarter reflecting raw material cost increases.

AK Steel Increases Prices
for Carbon, Stainless
AK Steel, West Chester, Ohio, will increase spot market prices for its carbon steel products by $30 per ton for all new orders accepted for shipment on Jan. 1 and later. Company officials say the price increase is in response to increased demand for carbon steel products, as well as the need to recover higher costs for steelmaking inputs.

Additionally, AK has increased transaction prices for all hot-rolled and cold-rolled stainless steel sheet, strip, tubular quality and continuous mill plate products by approximately 6 percent. The increase went into effect on Nov. 12. The transaction price increases were accomplished through a 2 percent reduction in the functional discount rate, which equates to approximately $70 per ton.  

Trade Group Questions
BHP-Rio Tinto Merger
The Brussels-based International Iron and Steel Institute has issued a formal request that all relevant competition authorities review the proposed alliance between BHP and Rio Tinto.

Speaking on behalf of steel producers worldwide, IISI Secretary General Ian Christmas comments: “IISI supports free and fair trade in steel. IISI has also supported the consolidation of steel businesses, but not to the extent of creating a monopoly. Even the largest steel company in the world today accounts for less than 15 percent of total world steel production.”

In contrast, Christmas says, three companies— CVRD, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton—dominate the business of seaborne iron ore. They account for more than 70 percent of total world trade.

“Any further consolidation between the big three would create a virtual monopoly in the business. For this reason, not only will the steel industry strongly oppose the potential merger of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, but it is vital that the competition authorities in the EU, U.S., China, Australia and Japan also recognize the threat that this merger poses to the interests of steel consumers and the general public. This merger is not in the public interest and should not be allowed to proceed,” Christmas adds.

Steel Dynamics Completes
OmniSource Acquisition
Steel Dynamics Inc., Fort Wayne, Ind., has completed its $1.1 billion acquisition of OmniSource Corp., a privately owned ferrous and non-ferrous scrap processing and trading company.

On a pro forma basis for their fiscal year 2006, the combination of Steel Dynamics and OmniSource would have resulted in 2006 revenues of approximately $5.4 billion.

“OmniSource will continue to operate much like it has in the past,” Busse emphasizes. “It expects to maintain its business relationships with a long list of scrap providers and continue to supply ferrous and non-ferrous resources to a wide range of customers, including foundries and steel mills. For our part, Steel Dynamics expects to continue to purchase scrap from numerous scrap vendors with whom we have developed strong relationships.

In 2006, Steel Dynamics purchased 516,000 tons of ferrous scrap from OmniSource, accounting for about 10 percent of OmniSource’s ferrous scrap generation and 14 percent of SDI’s scrap purchases. “We expect these percentages may grow somewhat over time with SDI’s growth in steelmaking, but we have no expectation of OmniSource supplying only to SDI or of SDI obtaining all its scrap from OmniSource,” Busse says.

Effective with the acquisition, SDI’s existing scrap operations in Virginia, Tennessee and Indiana will be transitioned to OmniSource.

Correction
In October’s Jacobson Customer Satisfaction Survey article, listings of mills ranked highest for inside and outside sales support were inadvertently transposed in Chart 4 on page 39. Companies achieving the highest satisfaction scores for outsides sales support by product were: Carbon Sheet—Beta Steel; Bar/Structurals—Nucor Auburn; Plate—Claymont Steel; Tube—Hanna Steel; Beam—Nucor Yamato; Stainless Sheet—Allegheny Ludlum.

Companies achieving the highest satisfaction scores for inside sales representation were: Carbon Sheet—Nucor Decatur; Bar/Structurals—Nucor Auburn; Plate—IPSCO Montpelier; Tube—Southland Tube; Beam—Nucor Berkeley; Stainless Sheet—AK Steel Stainless.

Briefs
Aleris International Inc., Beachwood, Ohio, has agreed to sell its zinc business, US Zinc, to affiliates of Votorantim Metais Ltd. for $295 million. US Zinc recycles zinc metal for use in the manufacture of galvanized steel and other products. US Zinc operates six zinc facilities in the United States and a newly built zinc oxide facility located outside of Shanghai, China. “The sale of US Zinc will allow Aleris to focus on our core aluminum business,” says Steven J. Demetriou, Aleris’s Chairman and CEO.

Symmetry Holdings Inc. has completed the acquisition of Novamerican Steel Inc., Lasalle, Quebec. Novamerican’s shareholders received $56 in cash per share for all of the outstanding shares of the company. 

Olin Corp., Clayton, Mo., has completed the sale of its metals business to Global Brass and Copper Inc., an affiliate of KPS Capital Partners, LP. The sale includes all of the company’s worldwide metals operations, including its manufacturing facilities and its A. J. Oster metals service centers.

RathGibson, Janesville, Wis., is now offering 8-inch OD sanitary tubing to meet the demands of the food and dairy industries. The company uses TP304L and TP316L stainless steel tubing for its food and dairy customers.

Woodstock, Ill.-based Dura-Bar, the only North American producer of continuous cast iron bar stock, announced that it has expanded its Western U.S. and Canadian distribution network by adding the Encore Group Limited of Edmonton, Alberta. The Encore Group, which consists of Encore Metals and Team Tube in Canada, is a subsidiary of the Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.

Hadco Metal Trading Co. LLC, a subsidiary of Scope Metals Group Ltd., has entered a 10-year lease for an 82,000-square-foot warehouse in Philadelphia. The storage capacity is more than double its existing Philadelphia warehouse and is in line with the company’s plans to increase activities in the area.

General Cable Corp., Highland Heights, Ky., has completed the acquisition of Phelps Dodge International Corp., from Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. PDIC is the cable and wire business of Phoenix, Ariz.-based Phelps Dodge Corp., which was acquired by Freeport-McMoRan earlier in the year.

Rio Tinto Alcan has reached an agreement with Norsk Hydro ASA to expand its alumina supply to Hydro Aluminum from 500,000 tons of alumina per year to 900,000 tons from 2011 to the end of the contract.

Moscow-based UC Rusal, the world’s largest producer of aluminum and alumina, has joined the Federation of Aluminum Consumers in Europe. FACE membership is in line with the company’s commitment to advancing international use of aluminum. Rusal also has completed a large-scale casthouse modernization program at four of its aluminum smelters: Sayonogorsk, Krasnoyarsk, Bratsk and Novokuznetsk. The investment in the project amounted to approximately $130 million. The value-added casthouse production has increased almost tenfold and today accounts for more than 50 percent of all aluminum production.

Titanium Metals Corp., Dallas, and Japan’s Toho Titanium Co. Ltd., have entered into a new long-term agreement for the supply of titanium sponge by Toho to TIMET. The agreement provides for the purchase by TIMET of specified volumes of titanium sponge from 2010 through 2024, and includes provisions regarding specified price ranges.

ArcelorMittal, Luxembourg, has signed an agreement with the Republic of Mozambique to explore the mining of iron ore and coal, with a focus on metallurgical coal. ArcelorMittal also plans to build a new bar rolling mill with a yearly capacity of 400,000 tons.

Georg Automatic Feed Co. Ltd., a joint venture of Automatic Feed Co. and Heinrich Georg GmbH Maschinenfabrik, has launched its web site, www.gaf-ltd.com. The web page presents GAF’s products, including slitting lines, edge trimming and inspection lines, cut-to-length lines, packaging lines and press feeding lines. 

Northwest Pipe Co., Portland, has received orders to supply pipe to three separate projects. The company will supply $12 million worth of pipe for Colorado’s Prairie Works project; $11 million worth of pipe for the Spanish Fork Reach project in Spanish Fork, Utah; and $5 million in pipe to the Des Moines Water Reclamation Authority in Iowa.

Greer Steel, Dover, Ohio, has completed the addition of a Zenar 40-ton, top-running crane to service the company’s pickling and primary slitting departments. Greer will also install a new hot-rolled slitter, with a quarter-inch by 60-inch DMS slitting line. The slitting line will become operational in the first quarter of 2008.

Century Aluminum Co., Monterrey Calif., has completed the cell energizing for the 40,000-ton expansion at its primary aluminum smelter in Grundartangi, Iceland. This expansion takes the rated capacity at the plant to 260,000 tons.

Pingguo Aluminum of GuangXi, China, has chosen Belding, Mich.-based Granco Clark to provide extrusion pullers for two press lines. The double pullers will be installed in a cut-on-the-fly arrangement.

People
Gary Stokes, senior vice president, sales and marketing, will assume the role of senior vice president, water transmission group for Northwest Pipe, Portland, Ore. Charles Koenig, who oversees the water transmission group, will retire in July 2008. Also, Stephanie J. Welty has been named chief financial officer, replacing John Murakami.    

Claudio Schultz has been named director of spare parts North America for Trumpf, Farmington, Conn. He will lead the spare parts team including customer service representatives, buyers and planners, stock room, and return authorization groups.

David Cox has been named president of Moundridge, Kansas-based The Bradbury Co. Cox, who joined Bradbury in 1997, will maintain his duties as chief operating officer.

 Marlon Piva has been named industrial sales manager for Cattron-Theimeg Americas Ltd. Piva will be responsible for sales of the company’s industrial products throughout Brazil. 

Peter Laman has been hired as the new director of the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor. Laman has 25 years experience in port operations, including work along the Gulf of Mexico and on the West Coast.