ArcelorMittal to spend $760 million on Mexican and American projects

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, will spend $760 million to build a mill in Mexico and buy a coke plant in Pennsylvania, US.

The $600 million mill will produce steel for construction and car making, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal said today in a statement. The plant will make 1 million metric tons of steel billet a year and have a bar-rolling capacity of 500,000 tons. The site has yet to be selected.

The new plant is expected to feed the Mexican government's ambitious programmes to upgrade infrastructure and build additional housing in the country. The new facility will incorporate state of the art technology and steel processing to ensure it is both energy-efficient and environmentally responsible. It will also benefit from best practices that have been developed across the group's operations.

"We are delighted to be making this investment which underlines our commitment to the Mexican steel industry. Our plan calls for an investment of $600 million,'' said Gonzalo Urquijo, member of ArcelorMittal's group management board with responsibility for long products.

''We are presently evaluating potential sites for the mill in Mexico. The decision concerning the final location will be based upon a number of factors including logistics, supply chain and the availability of sufficient resources to run and operate the plant efficiently and responsibly,'' he added.

In a separate release, the company said it would pay $160 million to buy the Koppers' Monessen Coke Plant from Koppers Inc. to secure more of the fuel it needs to fire steel furnaces. The plant, built by the Pittsburgh Steel Company in 1941, had an output of 320,000 metric tons of coke last year.