11TH Morgan Wire Rod Mill being Built in China
WORCESTER, Mass., January 18, 2000

Morgan Construction Company has received a major contract from Anyang Iron & Steel Company, of Anyang City in Henan Province, in the People's Republic of China, to design and build that company's first high-speed wire rod mill.

This will be the 11th mill to be built by Morgan in the People's Republic of China since 1985. In late 1999, Morgan obtained a contract to design and build Hangzhou Iron & Steel Group Co.'s first high-speed wire rod mill.

Anyang's single-strand mill is designed to produce high quality rod at a finishing speed of up to 120 meters per second. The mill, which has a product capacity of 550,000 tonnes a year, will be able to produce 5.0 mm to 20.0 mm rod with a tolerance of +/-0.1 mm for use as tire cord and other products in international markets.

In announcing the contract, Daniel M. Morgan, senior vice president, Sales & Marketing, said, "This mill, which represents the latest in steel-producing quality, includes Morgan's patented Reducing/Sizing Mill (RSM), which will be located after the No-Twist® Mill (NTM) rod mill.

"The contract calls for two 2-stand pre-finishing mini-blocks, an eight-stand NTM, a four-stand RSM, water boxes, a high-speed laying head, a ten-zone Stelmor® Controlled Cooling System, and a Morgan Ring Distributor System.

"With this new Morgan technology, the mill will be able to produce coils weighing 2,200 kg. Morgan expects to ship most of the equipment in November, 2000 with startup in April, 2001.

In addition to the Anyang and Hangzhou mills, other high-speed Morgan mills that were built in China include: Tianjin Steel Works; Xiangtan Iron and Steel Company; Baotou Steel and Rare Earth Company; Kunming Iron & Steel Company; Wuhan Iron & Steel Company; two wire rod mills for Zhangjiagang Sheen-Faith Steel Corporation Ltd.; Dalian Iron & Steel Company; and Baoshan Iron & Steel Corporation.

In addition to the new high-speed Morgan rod mills, several Chinese steel producers have imported secondhand Morgan rod mills in the past decade. Morgan has been involved with these companies in servicing and modernizing those facilities.

Morgan Construction Company, is a designer and producer of high-quality rolling mill products and services for the metal industry worldwide.

Questions or comments can be e-mailed to: sales@morganco.com