News release
SDI La Farga showcases new plant
From left to right: SDI La Farga General Manager Roy Perala, SDI President and CEO Mark Millett, La Farga Group Deputy Chairman and CEO Oriol Guixa, Indiana State Senator Tom Wyss, New Haven Mayor Terry McDonald, and Allen County Commissioner Nelson Peters. Front: La Farga Group President Vicente Fisas Comella.
SDI La Farga LLC, a new venture joining Steel Dynamics and The La Farga Group, showcased its brand-new $40 million facility in New Haven, Indiana, during an open house on July 10. Commissioning of the plant is currently under way, with the first copper being melted on June 14.
More than 120 visitors representing a variety of interests toured the plant. “The open house went well,” says SDI La Farga General Manager Roy Perala. “We had a good turnout, and we received numerous positive comments on what we’re doing here. The people who attended ran the gamut—customers, contractors who helped build the plant, governmental officials, and representatives from SDI, OmniSource, and The La Farga Group.”
SDI La Farga, the first operation of its kind in the United States, will use state-of-the-art technology to refine recycled copper and produce new Cu-FRHC (fire-refined, high-conductivity) 8-millimeter rod that is at least 99.9-percent pure and meets the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) B-49 standards.
In an environmentally friendly process recycled copper is melted, continuously cast, and rolled into copper rod used primarily in the production of electrical wire and cable. Based in Barcelona, Spain, The La Farga Group has successfully used this process in Europe.
At full production capacity, SDI La Farga is expected to produce approximately 180 million pounds of copper rod annually.
