Castrip LLC signed a license agreement with a North American steelmaker to build and operate a plant utilizing the Castrip® thin-strip casting process. The new casting facility will have the capability to produce 500,000 tons of thin-gauge, high-strength sheet steel for local manufacturing and construction markets. The independent EAF steelmaker will be the first licensee outside of Nucor, which owns and operates thin-strip casting facilities in Indiana and Arkansas, to build a Castrip facility. The new twin-roll casting and rolling plant will produce UCS (ultra-thin cast strip) coils up to 1,680 mm (66 inches) wide. Start-up is scheduled for early 2016.

The process equipment and technical services for the facility will be provided by a consortium comprised of Siemens Metals Technologies, IHI and Castrip LLC. This consortium has developed an optimized supply model for worldwide distribution of all new Castrip plants. Charlotte, N.C.-based Castrip LLC is a joint venture of Nucor, BlueScope Steel of Australia and Japan’s IHI.