WHEELING, W.Va., May 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Two Wheeling-based
companies, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation (Nasdaq: WPSC) and Herman
Strauss, Inc., today announce a strategic scrap agreement that makes Herman
Strauss the scrap steel operator and exclusive scrap steel provider to
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel. As part of the agreement, Herman Strauss will
build, own and operate the scrap facility that will supply all of Wheeling-
Pittsburgh Steel's scrap needs, including for its Electric Arc Furnace.
Construction of the EAF, which is located at Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel's Mingo
Junction Plant, is scheduled for completion this fall.
"This innovative agreement ensures that Herman Strauss, Inc. will play an
important role as Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel begins its evolution to a company
using the most modern EAF technology available in the world today," said
Donald E. Keaton, Vice President, Steel Manufacturing & Procurement.
"Our partnership allows Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel to take full advantage
of Herman Strauss' expertise and years of experience in the scrap steel
industry. It also means that we can focus our efforts and capital on our core
businesses of steel production and metal products," he said.
Herman Strauss, Inc. is expected to provide in excess of 100,000 tons per
month of steel scrap to Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel, or the equivalent of the
steel content of 90,000 automobiles. In addition to steel scrap, Herman
Strauss will handle other raw materials that can be used as feedstock to the
EAF, including pig iron and hot briquetted iron HBI.
"We will have access to steel scrap from the entire eastern half of the
United States using barges that have access to the entire Mississippi and Ohio
river waterway systems, as well as two railroads that service our Mingo
Junction Plant," Keaton noted. Locally generated scrap will continue to be
trucked into the plant.
Carter Strauss, president of Herman Strauss, Inc., acknowledged that this
agreement will establish Herman Strauss as one of the largest scrap
management, brokerage and processing companies in the United States. "It is a
significant step for our company and the Upper Ohio Valley," Strauss added.
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation is a metal products company with
3,100 employees in facilities located in Steubenville, Mingo Junction,
Yorkville, and Martins Ferry, OH; Beech Bottom and Follansbee, WV; and
Allenport, PA. The company's Wheeling Corrugating Division has 12 plants
located throughout the United States.
Statements in this release that express a belief, expectation or
intention, as well as those which are not historical fact, are forward
looking. They involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which may cause
actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. For
more information about these risks and uncertainties, please refer to
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corporation's annual report on Form 10-K for the period
ending December 31, 2003, and other filings, with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
SOURCE Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation
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