[ferro-alloys.com]Liberty Steel USA may restart the second electric arc furnace at its Georgetown, South Carolina, mill as the company looks to become the largest wire rod producer in the US within the next year, GFG Alliance Executive Chairman Sanjeev Gupta said Tuesday.

Speaking to employees at the company's newly acquired mill in Peoria, Illinois, formerly Keystone Steel and Wire, Gupta said the potential restart would add 500,000 mt of annual production capacity at the South Carolina rod mill. The mill currently has annual melting capacity of 500,000 mt and an annual rolling capacity of 750,000 mt/year.

Liberty -- which began producing steel in the US at the Georgetown mill in June 2018 after purchasing the idled facility from ArcelorMittal at the end of 2017 -- is aiming to grow its production capacity in the US to 5 million mt/year by the end of 2020. Earlier this month the company completed its $320 million acquisition of Keystone parent company Keystone Consolidated Industries (KCI).

In addition to the potential expansion at Georgetown, Gupta said Liberty is examining proposals to boost permitted liquid steel production at the Peoria mill to 1.1 million mt/year, up from the current capability of 800,000 mt/year. Additionally, Liberty is exploring the potential to build a combined-cycle natural gas power plant on the site to cut carbon emissions by half, lower energy costs, and enable future expansion from the site's EAF.

Overall, through the acquisition of Georgetown and KCI, Liberty Steel USA has a current EAF melt capacity of 1.8 million mt/year and 1.5 million mt/year of rod rolling capacity.

"This investment is a major vote of confidence in the American steel industry and its workforce," Gupta said. "There is a growing desire to buy American-made rather than imported steel and we are very well placed with excellent skills and resources to serve that rising demand. The USA is the largest exporter of scrap and the largest importer of steel in the world so clearly there is an opportunity to produce more steel in the US for the local market from domestic scrap, and we intend to seize this opportunity."

Liberty is exploring taking its US division public with the launch of an initial public share offering to help fund its expansion in the US. Gupta expects the IPO to launch in the US by the third quarter, he said in a recent interview with S&P Global Platts.

GFG Alliance had an active 2018, making offers to acquire steelmakers, aluminum smelters and mines around the globe. In December the company's completed its $500 million takeover of Europe's largest aluminum smelter, Rio Tinto's Dunkerque operations in France.

In November, ArcelorMittal agreed to sell six of its European steel assets to the company's Liberty House Group unit, with deal completion expected in the middle of 2019. The sale price and deal structure will not be disclosed until its completion.

(S&P Global Platts)

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