FORT WAYNE – Steel Dynamics Inc. is considering building a new mini-mill to make flat-rolled steel, a company spokesman confirmed Thursday. But the project hasn’t been presented to or approved by the company’s board of directors.
Chairman and CEO Keith Busse talked about the proposed project during an April 19 conference call with analysts, although a location and timeline haven’t been announced.
The Fort Wayne company on April 18 reported first-quarter earnings of $106 million, a 63 percent increase over the same three months of 2010, on net sales of $2 billion.
The mill would probably have 1.7 million tons of capacity and would broaden the company’s product portfolio by also making thicker steel that could be used by pipe and tube makers, markets SDI doesn’t serve now, Busse said.
Spokesman Fred Warner said Busse has been talking publicly about the desire to build another mill for about a year. The CEO has implied the project would be on the Ohio River, which could place it somewhere in southern Indiana, Warner said. But the company also has considered sites in other states that adjoin the river, Warner said.
Founded in 1993, Steel Dynamics employed 6,180 as of Dec. 31. The company has steel or metals recycling operations in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas, Nevada and Mexico.
