By Jim Ross, The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Hundreds of acres have been transformed and huge new buildings are going up all over the place, but only a small fraction of Nucor West Virginia’s new steel mill in Mason County is complete.
“It’s really taking shape, but we’re really only about 10% complete with the project,” Sean O’Connell, hot mill supervisor for Nucor West Virginia, told members of the Rotary Club of Huntington on Monday. “We are still on schedule (and) on budget.”
O’Connell was one of three Nucor representatives who updated Rotary members on the mill’s progress and what they can expect to see in the near future.
Nucor is building a $3.1 billion sheet steel mill along W.Va. 2 at the community of Apple Grove, about 28 miles north of downtown Huntington. Construction began last year. The mill will convert scrap steel into new steel. Nucor says it is the largest steel manufacturer in North America and the largest recycler of any material in the Western Hemisphere.
Nucor has about 230 employees on site. It plans to have about 800 employees when the mill is operational. About 900 contractors are on site currently, O’Connell said.
According to a slide in the Nucor spokesmen’s presentation, so far, 843,000 tons of rock have been moved at Apple Grove. About 785 million cubic yards of dirt, the equivalent of 3.5 million wheelbarrows, have been moved.
