YK Steel of Korea commissioned SMS group to supply a new mini-mill with integrated melting, casting and rolling and including all electrical and automation systems. Instead of relocating and upgrading an existing plant, YK Steel instead opted for a completely new mini-mill that will start production in 2025 at the company’s Dangjin site. YK Steel will use the mini-mill to produce reinforcing steel with diameters ranging from 10 to 35 mm (0.39-1.4 inches). The products manufactured in the mini-mill will be sold as 6- to 12-meter-long (20- to 39-foot-long) packages with a maximum weight of 450-550 kg (992-1,212 pounds) and large packages weighing up to 2 tons.

To produce the steel, YK Steel plans to use a 115-ton electric-arc furnace (EAF) and a charging system operated with 100% steel scrap. The five-strand caster, which will produce square billets 150 mm thick (6 inches thick), can achieve casting speeds of up to 4 meters per minute. The cast billets are conveyed into the downstream rolling mill via a hot-charging roller table. This is connected to a walking-beam furnace that offers a production capacity of 140 tons of billets per hour and is fitted with low-NOx recuperative burners. The rolling mill consists of 18 housingless stands and a water cooling system for controlling the rolled stock temperature and for quenching.