Company honored for its investment in and commitment to Mountain State
By Charles Young, The Exponent Telegram
APPLE GROVE, W.Va. — To mark the start of a project that has been called the largest single capital investment in West Virginia’s history, officials with Nucor Corp. set an ambitious goal.
During a ceremony at the end of October celebrating the official groundbreaking for Nucor’s $3.1 billion sheet steel mill in Mason County, the company enlisted the help of 550 shovel-wielding volunteers to set a new world record for the most people in a single line dig.
The new record, certified by a representative of Guinness Book of World Records, was more than just a promotional lark intended to grab headlines.
The successful world record attempt served as a demonstration of the company’s willingness to set and accomplish goals of significant size and scope, according to Leon Topalian, Nucor’s chair, president and CEO.
“We are the largest steel manufacturer in North America and the largest recycler of any material in the Western Hemisphere,” he said. “We’ve been in steel now for nearly 60 years. And over that time, we’ve grown to 26 steel mills and hundreds of facilities across 40 states that produce raw materials for downstream steel products for a nation’s economy.”
Gov. Jim Justice announced Nucor had chosen West Virginia as the location of its next mill in January 2022, saying the facility would be a “key part of West Virginia’s DNA long into the future.”
For the company’s investment in and commitment to the Mountain State, Nucor has been named WV News/The State Journal’s Economic Development Project of the Year.
