Dive Brief:
- U.S. Steel will invest nearly $3 billion in a new hot strip mill at its Mon Valley Works - Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania, the company said Thursday.
- U.S. Steel’s board of directors approved full funding for the project, which will replace aging equipment with modern steelmaking technology and increase annual production capacity from 2.2 million tons to 3.5 million tons, according to a news release.
- The investment will expand the range of steel the site can produce, maintain jobs across Pennsylvania and generate up to $58 million in state and local tax revenue over three years, according to an economic impact study commissioned by U.S. Steel from Parker Strategy Group. The company plans to begin construction after permits are received, with production expected to ramp in late 2029.
Dive Insight:
U.S. Steel’s board of directors approved the project as part of a broader effort by Japan-based parent company Nippon Steel to spend $11 billion on several U.S. investments by the end of 2028, including equipment upgrades and facility expansions, to drive profits in the region.
Nippon Steel first disclosed plans to upgrade or replace U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley hot strip mill operations in August 2024 for no less than $1 billion as a contingency of its pending acquisition at the time. It bought U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion last year. The company more than doubled its hot strip mill investment in June, and more recently updated investors during an earnings presentation that it would approve the project no later than March 2027.
The Edgar Thomson Plant is U.S. Steel’s oldest continuously operating plant, first opened in 1875 by Andrew Carnegie. The location produces hot iron in blast furnaces, which it then converts into steel and turns into slabs, according to U.S. Steel’s website. Those slabs are shipped to the nearby Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, where they are rolled into sheet products for the appliance, automotive, metal building and home construction industries.
The project would bring hot strip mill production directly to the Edgar Thomson Plant, allowing U.S. Steel to discontinue those operations at the Irvin Plant. The company said the new mill “will reduce waste, use less energy and give U.S. Steel greater flexibility to meet customer needs.”
“By using less fuel, eliminating a cutting step and reducing scrap, these advanced capabilities make our operations more efficient while helping us deliver the consistent quality and reliability our customers count on,” U.S. Steel said in the news release.
U.S. Steel plans to decommission the hot strip mill and reheat furnaces at the Irvin Plant, but continue the site’s finishing operations, a spokesperson said in an email Friday.
“The new hot strip mill will not result in job losses,” the spokesperson said. U.S. Steel plans to consolidate affected jobs at the Irvin Plant to the Edgar Thomson Plant.
U.S. Steel first began hot strip mill production at the Irvin Plant in 1938, according to the company’s environmental report published in 2024.
Separately, construction is underway on a $100 million slag granulator at the Edgar Thomson Plant. The system will cool and process blast furnace slag, allowing U.S. Steel to turn a steelmaking byproduct into material used in cement and construction, according to the release.
