Hybar LLC of Osceola announced Monday that it has produced its first rebar at its new steel mill. The rebar was produced twenty-two months after Hybar broke ground on a 1,300-acre greenfield construction site.
Hybar intends to produce more than 700,000 tons of rebar annually in both stick and spooled form. The spools will range from sizes #3 to #8, with spools as large as eight tons. Hybar’s rebar will be shipped via barge on the Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio and Arkansas Rivers; via rail on BNSF Railway Company and other rail networks; and via truck on nearby highways.
“Hybar’s first day as a company was August 1, 2023. We had $1 billion of financing, three employees and huge ambitions,” Dave Stickler, Hybar’s CEO, said in a press release. “Our plan was to build the world’s most technically advanced environmentally sustainable rebar steel mini mill, along with our own Mississippi River port, and the largest behind-the-meter solar and battery storage facility in the United States. Twenty-two months later, I am extremely proud to say mission accomplished.”
The company plans to begin commissioning its 105-ton DC electric arc furnace and continuous caster, while completing commissioning of its rolling mill and solar and battery storage facility.
Hybar will operate its behind-the-meter solar and battery storage facility in a manner that will allow the company to be the only steel producer in North America to be able to produce steel using 100% renewable power. The mill has a special rate power contract with Entergy Arkansas.
Primetals Technologies USA LLC provided the majority of Hybar’s onsite electrical infrastructure, including the substation and power distribution network. SMS group GmbH provided Hybar’s electric arc furnace, continuous caster, rolling mill and water treatment plant. DEPCOM Power Inc. designed and built the solar and battery storage facility.
Lexicon Inc. of Little Rock was the construction manager for the mill, solar field and port projects.
Stickler told Arkansas Business in March that after production at the Osceola mill was “started up,” that the company would be “actively looking and considering our next two mills, one of which may be in Arkansas.”
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