Commercial Metal Company’s CMC Steel Arizona plant in Mesa, Ariz., started up a Danieli continuous casting/rolling micromill. CMC’s micromill has a rated capacity of 300,000 metric tons/year of 12- to 36-mm rebar and Y sections. According to Danieli, the mill is characterized by a single-strand continuous casting/rolling process that features ultrahigh-speed “PowerMould” caster, in-line bar quenching and tempering, and direct rolling/bundling system.

The plant, which does not include a billet reheat furnace, makes use of local scrap and supplies CMC’s local fabrication shops and the southwest market. It is also capable of producing up to 57-mm bar. Startup occurred just over one year from groundbreaking.