Kingman mill of North Star to be closed shortly
North Star Steel Co. is planning to close down its long products producer Kingman mill in Arizona, due to the inefficient financial performance, failing to meet the initial expectations at the time of the foundation.
There are also unconfirmed speculations in the industry that the parent company Cargill considers to walk out of steel business entirely.
The problem derived from the wrong policies followed in the volatile US energy market, resulting in extremely high electricity costs. Consequently the mill's electric arc furnace had to put on idle in 2000 and thereafter the mill has been supplying billets from other North Star mills.
North Star Steel started
construction of Kingman as its seventh mini-mill in 1995 on its 1,040 acre desert site seven miles west of Kingman, Arizona. The bar mill start up took place in March 1996, the first heat was melted in June of the same year and the first rod
production occurred in March of 1997. At that time it was targeted to serve the U.S. Southwest, West Coast and northern Mexican
construction markets, however company officials state that the
wire rod and
rebar markets failed to meet the expectations.
115 employees of the facility will now be offered jobs at other North Star mills.