Global Slag News

Europe: AcelorMittal has received approval from the European Commission (EC) for the sale of selected steelmaking assets to Liberty House Group. The divestment includes ArcelorMittal Ostrava in the Czech Republic, ArcelorMittal Galati in Romania, ArcelorMittal Skopje in North Macedonia, ArcelorMittal Piombin in Italy, ArcelorMittal Dudelange in Luxembourg and several finishing lines at ArcelorMittal Liège in Belgium. The assets are part of a divestment package that AcelorMittal agreed with the EC during its merger control investigation into its acquisition of Ilva. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the first half of 2019.

US: Councillors at the Vallejo City Council in California are preparing to make a decision on Orcem Americas’ slag cement plant project at the end of May 2019. The council has released a new draft Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), according to the Vallejo Times-Herald newspaper. However, staff said the document is not ready to be presented to the council for certification and possible project approval under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) due to a lack of information and cooperation from the applicants for the draft status of the report. Planning permission for the slag grinding plant and marine terminal was refused in early 2017.

US: Harsco’s Metals & Minerals division has expanded an agreement with Egyptian Steel, a manufacturer of rebar and wire rods in the Middle East and North Africa. Under the terms of this expanded agreement, Harsco will provide scrap and slag management, material handling, and metal recovery services at Egyptian Steel’s Beni Suef plant. Harsco has provided similar services to Egyptian Steel’s Al Ain Al Sokhna site since late 2017.

“This contract further strengthens our market-leading role in the Africa and Middle East steel markets, where Harsco has been providing environmental services for well over two decades,” said Russ Mitchell, the Chief Operating Officer of Harsco Metals & Minerals.

US: Charah plans to open its second granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) grinding plant at the Watco's Greens Port Industrial Terminal (GPIT) in Texas. The unit is scheduled to be fully operational in the third quarter of 2019. The site is located on the Houston Ship Channel and is accessible by ship, truck, and rail. It will sell materials to concrete product manufacturers throughout Texas and the Gulf Coast region. No cost for the project has been disclosed.

"As one of the leading fly ash sales and marketing companies in the country, we are excited to open this facility that will increase access to high-quality secondary cementitious materials (SCM) in the Texas and Gulf Coast market, where availability has traditionally been inconsistent," said Scott Sewell, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Charah Solutions. He added that GBIT is an ‘ideal’ hub for Charah to use to serve its customers in Texas and the Gulf Coast.

GPIT will receive GBFS by ship and then use Charah Solutions' patented grinding technology to manufacture slag cement marketed under the brand MultiCem. The MultiCem slag cement is distributed throughout Charah Solutions' MultiSource materials network of more than 30 domestic sourcing locations that provide ready mix concrete producers and other customers SCMs, including fly ash and slag cement.

US: Slag cement shipments grew by 11% year-on-year to 3.45Mt in 2018 from 3.11Mt in 2017, according to data from the Slag Cement Association. This compares to 2.73Mt in 2016 and 2.43Mt in 2015.