SunCoke to begin Ohio coke production November 1

Lisle, Illinois-based SunCoke Energy Inc., the largest independent producer of metallurgical coke for the steel industry in the Americas, announced Wednesday that it plans to begin the process of heating the cokemaking ovens at its new Middletown, Ohio plant in mid-October. After the ovens are fully heated, which generally takes about two weeks, SunCoke plans to initiate metallurgical coke production for AK Steel by November 1, 2011.

SunCoke also said that its total US cokemaking production will increase by 550,000 net tons (nt) to about 4.2 million nt per year once the Middletown facility is in production. Estimated coke production in Q3 2011 is expected to be about 960,000 nt, up 7,000 nt over last year.

In addition to providing an update on production, SunCoke also announced Wednesday that it has acquired the entire 19 percent ownership interest in the partnership that owns the Indiana Harbor cokemaking facility held by SFG IHCC LLC, an affiliate of GE Capital, for $34 million, effective September 30, 2011.

As a result of this transaction, SunCoke now holds an 85 percent interest in the partnership and the remaining 15 percent interest in the earnings of the partnership is owned by an affiliate of DTE Energy Company.