Joint Venture Established for for Hismelt Plant

Nucor completed negotiations with Rio Tinto Group, Mitsubishi Corp., and Shougang Corp., a Chinese steel company, to jointly build and operate a commercial scale mismelt plant in Australia.

The hismelt process converts iron ore to liquid metal through injecting non-coking coal and iron ore into a molten iron bath. The technology is capable of processing ore that is unsuitable for current iron and steel technologies. Nucor will have rights to use the technology in any Nucor facility.

The joint venture plans to build a hismelt facility at Rio Tinto's existing site in Australia. The plant will be capable of producing around 800,000 metric tons per year of pig iron. The total cost of the facility will be around $215 million. The facility is scheduled to be complete and operational by September 2004.

The hismelt venture will be owned 60 percent by Rio Tinto, 25 percent by Nucor, 10 percent by Mitsubishi; and 5 percent by Shougang.