Staged startup at the expanded site
Steelmaking Plant No. 1's electric arc furnace (EAF) is supplying the new continuous caster during this initial phase. Commissioning work continues on the EAF at Steelmaking Plant No. 2, allowing Deacero to bring the facility into operation gradually. Production of beam blanks is expected to start in the coming weeks, a further step toward making large structural sections.
The project is Deacero's fifth Danieli minimill and has a planned annual capacity of 1.5 million metric tons, with the ability to produce sections up to 27 inches. Danieli announced the order on November 27, 2023, after receiving it that month. At the time, the supplier expected startup in the first quarter of 2026.
Danieli says the new mill occupies part of the existing Ramos Arizpe facilities, close to another Danieli-supplied minimill that makes approximately 1.5 million metric tons annually of smaller sections, ranging from ¼ inch to 10 inches. The addition is intended to double the site's capacity and extend its overall section range to ¼ inch through 27 inches.
Ramos Arizpe is in the northern state of Coahuila, about 45 miles west of Deacero's headquarters in Monterrey, Nuevo León, according to SteelOrbis.
Casting and rolling equipment
The new steelmaking equipment includes a 150-metric-ton EAF with automatic raw material feeding and Danieli's "Zero-Man-Around" technology.
Danieli specifies a six-strand continuous caster with a 10-meter radius, mold stirrers and two cooling beds. Its product range is designed to include billets and blooms measuring 180 x 180 mm and 280 x 220 mm, mini-slabs measuring 480 x 150 mm, and beam blanks measuring 280 x 220 x 90 mm and 480 x 380 x 90 mm.
For rolling, a walking-beam reheating furnace rated at 180 metric tons per hour feeds the heavy-duty medium section mill. The rolling line combines a breakdown mill (BDM) with an ultra-flexible reversing mill (UFR) equipped with four universal-type stand core concept (SCC) stands. Straightening and finishing equipment follows, serving sections up to 27 inches (702 mm), according to Danieli.
Investment and scrap supply
SteelOrbis reported that investment details for the Ramos Arizpe project had not been disclosed. Separately, a September 2023 report put Deacero's planned spending on steel mill expansions in Guanajuato in central Mexico and Coahuila in the north at $1.0 billion.
According to Canacero data cited by SteelOrbis, Deacero is Mexico's largest producer of long steel products and its largest metal scrap recycler. The company has steelmaking capacity exceeding 4.5 million metric tons a year and owns more than 20 scrap collection and processing centers.
Deacero also placed an order in November 2023 for five scrap-shredding plants from Danieli Centro Recycling. Danieli said four would each pair a 2,000-hp shredder with ferrous output of 50 metric tons per hour; the fifth would use a 4,000-hp shredder rated at 100 metric tons per hour. The resulting proler is intended primarily to supply Deacero's Danieli meltshops in Mexico.
