Nucor breaks ground for new DRI Louisiana facility

Nucor Corporation has broken ground on its direct reduced iron (DRI) making facility that will be located in St. James Parish, Louisiana.

The company also indicated that Lester Hart has been named the general manager of the St. James Parish facility.

The company received its air permit from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality in January after meeting all of the requisite standards ensuring its facility will comply with state and federal environmental controls. Issuance of the air permit allowed the company to begin the process of ordering equipment, and the company will now commence construction.

Initially, Nucor will build one DRI plant, but has been permitted for the construction and operation of 2 plants with a combined annual DRI production of 5,500,000 tons.

Direct reduction technology converts natural gas and iron ore pellets into high quality direct reduced iron used by Nucor’s steel mills, along with recycled scrap, to produce numerous high quality steel products such as sheet, plate and special bar quality steel. The DRI facility is the first phase of a multi-phase plan that may include a coke plant, blast furnace, pellet plant and steel mill.

The project will create a substantial number of quality jobs. The project’s first phase will create 150 permanent Nucor jobs that earn an average annual salary of $75,000, plus benefits; approximately twice the median household income for that part of Louisiana. During peak construction, 500 jobs will be directly created. If the additional phases of the project are constructed, over time Nucor could have a total investment of over $3 billion and increase permanent employment to more than 1,000. To date the company has invested over $50 million to acquire approximately 4,000 acres of property on the Mississippi River for the facility.