Highbar LLC, a newly formed company focused on sustainable scrap metal recycling and steel production, has selected a greenfield site in northeast Arkansas to build the first of two rebar steel minimills. The company says the mills are designed to be world leaders in terms of energy and water efficiency, labor productivity and carbon emission reductions.
“My team and I have had great success investing billions of dollars in northeast Arkansas over the past eight years,” Highbar CEO Dave Stickler says. “Arkansas is a great place to conduct business, especially steel business.”
Stickler served as CEO of EAF steelmaker Big River Steel from 2015 through its full acquisition by Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp. in late 2020. The Big River electric arc furnace (EAF) mill is in Osceola, Arkansas, and U.S. Steel continues to invest in the site.
The Highbar mill in northeast Arkansas will sit on more than 600 acres of property just outside Osceola. The project will include space for an expanded Mississippi River port facility, a direct Class 1 railroad connection and a planned adjacent solar installation. Groundbreaking is scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2023 once final permits are in place and equipment deliveries begin.
Highbar plans to invest about $500 million and create 200 direct and indirect jobs, with the direct jobs paying $140,000 per year on average plus benefits, and the indirect jobs paying $60,000 per year on average plus benefits. During the planned 22-month construction period, peak construction employment is expected to exceed 600 jobs.
Much of the technology for the Highbar mill will be provided by the Germany-based SMS Group.
The company says it has achieved significant market acceptance with more than 20 percent of its output presold under long-term agreements.
“The addition of Highbar's first rebar mill in Arkansas will not only support the growing steel industry in northeast Arkansas, but it will further diversify our economy and provide hundreds of high-wage jobs to deserving families,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson says. “I’m excited about the opportunities this significant investment will bring to the region.”
