ArcelorMittal Montreal announces $27 million to update bar mill

Steel rolling operations at the ArcelorMittal Montreal Longueuil bar mill, which will be modernized following a $27 million investment. (CNW Group/ArcelorMittal Montréal)

ArcelorMittal Montreal has announced a C$27 million investment to update the finishing line at its Longueuil bar mill.

The project is slatted to be completed in 2017 and will boost the mill's production capacity to 500,000 metric tonnes per year and make new added-value products available to customers.

The funding will come from ArcelorMittal's global capital expenditure fund for strategic projects at its best-performing facilities.

"Approval of this investment is a mark of ArcelorMittal senior management's confidence in our business unit," said Sujit Sanyal, ArcelorMittal Montreal Vice President, Operations.

The Longueuil bar mill currently converts about 400,000 tonnes of steel billets per year. They are made into special quality and merchant quality bars, rebar and various other semifinished products for customers in North America and Mexico. The bar mill is the world's largest supplier of steel for leaf springs for the major automakers' light and heavy trucks. The new finishing line will secure additional outlets for billets from the two ArcelorMittal Montreal steelworks in Contrecoeur and will increase the bar mill's capacity by 100,000 tonnes per year.

Design engineering is currently under way and work on the finishing line will begin in the second quarter of 2016. The new line should be operational by the end of the second quarter of 2017.

The project constitutes an addition to the $220 million in capital expenditures at ArcelorMittal Montreal facilities in Quebec and Ontario since 2008. Despite the volatile economy, the company is maintaining its position as a world-class Canadian steel producer.

The investment will consolidate the 200 jobs at the Longueuil plant, a strategic location for ArcelorMittal Montreal which has been in the municipality's industrial park since 1974. In 2013, the bar mill underwent a $24 million upgrade with the installation of a new reheat furnace. That project improved the mill's performance while reducing its energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Round steel bars manufactured at the Longueuil bar mill. (CNW Group/ArcelorMittal Montréal)