Nucor announces Trinidad facility start-up

Nucor Corp. has announced that the heat-up of its direct reduced iron (DRI) facility, Nu-Iron Unlimited, commenced on Dec. 5, 2006, followed by the start-up of DRI production on Dec. 30, 2006. The facility is located in Point Lisas, Trinidad. In the second week of production, it completed a five-day performance test surpassing an average production of 220 tons per hour, producing DRI containing more than 2 percent carbon.

"We are extremely pleased with the start-up of Nu-Iron in Trinidad, as it represents the largest current component of our strategy to control six to seven million tons per year of high quality metallics for the Nucor steel mills," said Dan DiMicco, Nucor's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our team in Trinidad from construction to operations has done an outstanding job relocating and expanding the capabilities of the plant."

In September 2004, Nucor acquired the Louisiana assets of American Iron Reduction (AIR), a 1.4-million-tons-per-year DRI plant utilizing MIDREX® MEGAMOD technology. Nucor relocated the assets to Point Lisas, Trinidad, in 2005 and increased the capacity to 2 million tons per year.