Alexandria Industries invested in a new aluminum extrusion press that will allow the company to increase its aluminum extrusion capabilities, extrude more complex product features and hold tighter tolerances while utilizing a variety of alloys. The company, which will gain an extra 30% in extrusion capacity, will add 19,000 square feet of space to its manufacturing facility in Alexandria, Minn., to accommodate the equipment. Construction is scheduled to begin soon.

Dajcor Aluminum Ltd., a Canadian manufacturer of extruded and fabricated aluminum products, will invest approximately $19.6 million to locate its first U.S, operation in Perry County, Ky. The project will create up to 265 full-time jobs. The operation will provide Dajcor additional capacity for aluminum extrusion and fabrication to serve a variety of North American industries. Operations are scheduled to begin by the end of 2019.

HarbisonWalker International (HWI) is investing to increase capacity by 25% at key steel refractory facilities. Most of the investment will be at its facility in White Cloud, Mich., which manufactures refractory products primarily for steelmakers. According to the company, approximately half of its capital investment dollars will have a direct positive impact on its steel industry customers. The investment will include expansion to accommodate new warehouse and shipping space, which is being constructed with American-made steel. Additional manufacturing space will house new technologies that improve production efficiency and worker safety.

United States Steel Corp. will invest more than $1 billion to construct a sustainable endless casting and rolling facility at its Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, Pa., and a cogeneration facility at its Clairton Plant in Clairton, Pa., both part of the company’s Mon Valley Works. The endless casting and rolling technology combines thin-slab casting and hot-rolled band production into one continuous process and will make Mon Valley Works the first facility of this type in the U.S., according to the company.

Primetals Technologies received an order from Chinese steelmaker Wuzhou Yongda Special Steel Co. to supply an electric-arc furnace (EAF) and a ladle furnace for a greenfield project. The EAF is designed to handle scrap steel of varied composition and quality. The electrical energy requirement of the EAF is extremely low because the scrap is preheated. This reduces both the operating costs and CO₂ emissions. The furnaces are scheduled to be commissioned in early 2020. Primetals Technologies will also supply the complete mechanical and electrical process equipment and the automation technology.

JSW Steel plans invest approximately $1 billion to ramp up the production capacity at its Vijayanagar plant in Karnataka, India, to 18 million metric tons per year from the current 12 million metric tons per year. A current expansion project, which will raise production at the plant from 12 to 13 million metric tons per year, includes the revamp and capacity upgrade of blast furnace-3 to improve hot metal availability. The company will also modify and enhance the capacity of its melt shop, its flat and long products mills and allied facilities to utilize the additional hot metal output. This project will be complete by March 2020.

Hydro will upgrade casting operations at its Husnes (Norway) facility with new technology to produce more advanced products for the growing automotive aluminum forging market. Newly developed in-house casting technology, low-pressure casting (LPC), will enable Hydro to provide materials with enhanced properties for various extrusion markets in which it is already a major material supplier. After the upgrade, Hydro Husnes will also be able to offer materials for forging. The Hydro-developed technology enables a shift from traditional extruded forge stock to cast forge stock, eliminating costly steps in the production process while improving quality. The as-cast surface is ready for forging, and homogenizing is not required. The upgraded facility will commence operations in 2020.

ArcelorMittal received European Commission (EC) approval for the sale of several steelmaking assets to Liberty House Group. Assets included within the divestment package are ArcelorMittal Ostrava (Czech Republic), ArcelorMittal Galati (Romania), ArcelorMittal Skopje (Macedonia), ArcelorMittal Piombino (Italy), ArcelorMittal Dudelange (Luxembourg) and several finishing lines at ArcelorMittal Liège (Belgium). According to Liberty House, the acquisition will make the company Europe’s third-largest steel producer. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first half of 2019.

Braidy Industries Inc. and En+ Group plc announced the execution of a Letter of Intent specifying basic terms for a potential $200 million lead investment for its Braidy Atlas mill in Ashland, Ky., by En+ Group subsidiary United Company RUSAL plc (Rusal). The strategic partnership aims to create the first low-carbon-impact industrial aluminum rolling-mill operation in the world. Braidy will be the first North American company to contract Rusal’s premier ALLOW-branded (certified low-carbon) aluminum slabs and P1020 as its exclusive primary inputs. According to Braidy, no U.S. domestic smelter currently delivers low-carbon primary aluminum slabs.

It is widely known that graphite is used in the automobile and steel industries. Besides the classical markets, there are new and ever-growing markets, such as lithium-ion batteries, being driven by the megatrends of digitalization and the Internet of Things. Of global graphite production, 70% is being accumulated by China.