Nucor Steel Berkeley breaks ground on $425 million expansion project

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Nucor Steel Berkeley broke ground on the construction of a new galvanizing line on Thursday, May 2.

The $425 million investment will create more than 50 new full-time jobs, according to a news release. The new galvanizing line is expected to start up in mid-2025.

Adding a new galvanizing line at the South Carolina sheet steel mill supports Nucor’s strategy to expand the company’s capabilities and grow its participation in the automotive and consumer durables markets, the release stated. The mill in Berkeley County produces flat-rolled steel which has hundreds of everyday uses, including parts for cars, water heaters, lawnmowers, appliances and more.

Nucor Steel Berkeley also produces steel beams that are used as support structures in bridges and buildings.

“This capability broadens the mix of higher margin value-added products that Nucor can provide to our customers,” Rex Query, Nucor’s executive vice president of sheet products, said during a groundbreaking ceremony. “It also allows us to take advantage of the need our customers have for sustainable steel — sustainable steel being something that Nucor excels at producing.”

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With its recycling-based steelmaking process, Nucor makes steel with much lower carbon emissions than traditional blast furnace steelmakers, the release stated.

At the event, Thompson Construction Group — a South Carolina-based company working on the project — signed a safety partnership with South Carolina OSHA that establishes safety goals and strategies to help protect the health and safety of workers constructing the new galvanizing line, the release stated.

The Nucor Steel Berkeley mill employs nearly 1,000 people and utilizes the services of up to 350 additional contractors working on-site on any given day, the release stated. Nucor Corp. has invested more than $1 billion in the Berkeley mill since it began production in 1996, generating approximately $2 billion in revenue annually.

Nucor is North America’s largest steel producer and recycler, recycling approximately 20 million tons of scrap metal annually to make new steel products, according to the release. The company got its start in the steel industry in the 1960s when it bought a steel joist facility in Florence, and later built its first steel mill in Darlington. Today, Nucor employs 2,500 people across South Carolina.