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APPLE GROVE, W.Va. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” Three years ago it was an open field of a few hundred acres ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” farmland, mostly. At the upper end were an old barn and a silo, partly hidden by trees.

Before that, it had been eyed by companies interested in building a hazardous waste incinerator or a paper pulp mill, but those plans came to naught, and the land remained in the hands of Appalachian Power, which waited to sell it to a buyer that would use a humongous amount of electricity.

Today it has been transformed into a construction site where 1,800 people are building the largest steel mill for AmericaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s largest steel maker and recycler of scrap steel.

The view from the highway

Most of the mill site is between the Ohio River and W.Va. 2 in southern Mason County, about 28 miles north of downtown Huntington and 14 miles south of Point Pleasant. Some mill operations are on the other side of W.Va. 2. ItÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s in a long, broad bottomland area.

In the 1950s, Goodyear built a plastics plant there; itÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s now owned by a company called APG Polymers. A large power transmission line crosses the river there. CSX operates a single track near the river. It runs north out of Huntington toward northern West Virginia.

A mile or so of highway has been widened to accommodate a turn lane. The highway there runs north-south. A modern convenience store sits across the road from the southern end of the mill site. Just above the northern end, a former grocery store has been remodeled into a convenience store that opened this week. It has a deli section that could open soon.

From the highway, the mill construction site looks huge ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” and it is. About 50 cranes of various sizes help assemble production buildings that are in various stages of construction. Some have their structural steel skeletons up, while others are enclosed already.

When asked what people driving on W.Va. 2 can expect to see in the next two years, Johnny Jacobs, vice president and general manager of Nucor Steel West Virginia, replied, ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œYouÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ll see continued growth and progress on the construction activity. WeÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ll go from current state [of] building erection to having buildingsÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ structural steel finished out, as well as buildings complete and equipment installed deeply in place until we come up for operations at the end of 2026.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥�

Almost all steel used on the site for construction comes from other Nucor operations.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œThatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s one of the exciting things about the project. When you look out there today and see the steel thatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s going up, it comes from our sister divisions. The rebar that went into the ground, or the piling that goes into the ground, the rebar into the concrete, the structural steel, the sheeting are items that are produced out of Nucor steel,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� Jacobs said.

What canÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t be seen from W.Va. 2 will be seen from the other side of the river along Ohio 7. ThatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s one of the largest barge docks in this part of the Ohio River, if not the largest.

Nucor has a permit to build a fleeting area that can hold up to 48 barges. Except in rare cases, the largest barge tows on the Ohio River are 15 barges. The largest on the Kanawha River are nine barges. The dock will allow Nucor to receive scrap steel and other raw materials, and it will be used to ship steel to customers or other Nucor facilities.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWeÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ve started construction on the barge dock,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� Jacobs said. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWe actually have a heavy haul road where the equipmentÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s being offloaded, and then the barge facility will be built out over the coming months.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥�

Production equipment will arrive by truck, rail and barge, Jacobs said.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWeÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ve already offloaded a few barges, and thereÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ll be more to come in the next several months,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� he said.

On site

From W.Va. 2, itÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s easy to see how large the buildings are just by comparing them to the workers and pickup trucks next to them. But that doesnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t give the sense of scale that comes from being on the site and coming within a few feet of them.

About 1,500 people working for building contractors and 300 Nucor employees are on site now. People and vehicles move around the site constantly. They work one shift per day, six days a week. Retired school buses are all over the site, hauling workers to and from their vehicles on the other side of the highway.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œThereÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s three or four food trucks on site every day,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� said Jake McClure, hot mill manager. McClure said he estimates about 50 cranes on site, with a dozen or so being the tall ones. The largest can lift 900 tons, he said. ThatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s equal to the coal hauled by nine rail cars.

Making steel (simplified)

Production buildings are arranged in a U-type configuration. At the southern end of the site is the melt shop, which will contain the electric arc furnaces that melt scrap steel into new steel. Not by coincidence, Appalachian Power is building a large new substation across the highway to supply electricity to the mill.

After leaving the furnaces, steel will go to a ladle caster where ingredients are added to meet customers specifications, then to a hot rolling mill where slabs of steel are turned into sheets. Then thereÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s a cold mill and a galvanizing line.

Next steps

As construction of the buildings themselves is completed, next up will be installing equipment inside them, McClure said. It puts the construction process ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œinto a whole different realm of activity, but thatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s the exciting part,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� he said.

As the construction phase winds down, raw materials will be brought to the mill site and things will ramp up for production to start, he said.

Nucor plans to have 800 people working at the mill when it goes into production. About 300 have already been hired, he said. Markee Schindler, talent and community relations manager, said some of the hires are involved in safety, and some are at other Nucor sites being trained in the companyÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s production methods.

Jacobs said he expects most mill workers to come from about a one-hour commute. That would include parts of southern Ohio and eastern Kentucky, along with West Virginia.

More West Virginia plans

When the Apple Grove project was announced three years ago, Nucor officials said the company would also building a smaller facility in the Northern Panhandle to function as a transloading and processing center. Steel would be sent there from Apple Grove for delivery to customers in the midwest and the northeast. Not much has been heard about that project since then, except that Nucor has bought land in the Weirton area.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWe do have land in that region, and weÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™re continuing to look at what the development will be up in that area,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� Jacobs said.