Steel Is Flowing in Mason County: Nucor's Apple Grove Mill Gears Up for 2027

Down along the Ohio River in Mason County, something big is coming to life. Nucor's new sheet steel mill in Apple Grove has made its first steel, and the company says the plant is getting ready to ramp up production in early 2027.

Company leaders shared the update during Nucor's third-quarter earnings call in late October. Construction at the West Virginia site is in its final stages, and crews are now commissioning equipment across the plant, the process of bringing each piece of machinery online and making sure it runs the way it should.

The milestones are already stacking up. In September, the mill's melt shop produced its first heat of steel. In October, the plant started shipping coils from its pickle line to other Nucor divisions. By December, the company expects to run its first coils through the hot mill, the cold mill and the construction-grade galvanizing lines.

Steve Laxton, Nucor's president and chief operating officer, thanked the West Virginia team for its hard work and strong safety record through the multi-year build, and said the project has stayed on time and on budget.

Nucor isn't planning to flip a switch and run flat out on day one. The company says its first priority is operating safely and reliably, with a gradual climb toward 50 percent utilization by the end of 2027. To keep the new mill busy during that ramp, Nucor plans to shift steady base orders from its other sheet mills over to Apple Grove.

There's a bigger goal down the road, too. Nucor wants a larger share of the automotive steel market, and the company plans to move process engineering and quality-control work tied to its automotive program to West Virginia as the mill grows. Executives said automotive production qualifications at the Mason County plant are expected to begin in 2028.

The roughly $4 billion project sits along W.Va. 2, the Ohio River and the CSX rail line, about 28 miles north of downtown Huntington. Nucor, the largest steelmaker in the United States, announced in 2022 that it would build its largest sheet steel mill here, and the official groundbreaking was held in August 2023. The mill uses electric arc furnaces, which melt down scrap steel and blend in other raw materials to make new steel.

For a state that built so much of America with its steel, coal and sweat, seeing a brand-new mill fire up on the banks of the Ohio is something to be proud of. Mason County, the next chapter is almost here.