Algoma Steel struck its first electric arc on 10 July 2025, and with it began winding down a century of integrated steelmaking on the St. Marys River. The C$703 million project swaps No. 7 Blast Furnace, the coke plant and the basic oxygen shop for two 250-tonne electric arc furnaces. Danieli supplied the steel shop. Walters Group built the building around it.
Project Scope
The new melt shop runs two Danieli Digimelter units with Q-One power-feed technology and a twin-tank vacuum degasser, rated for 3.7 million tonnes a year of liquid steel. That’s roughly 700,000 tonnes of additional finished-steel capacity over what the integrated route delivered. Building permits for the work were valued at about C$150 million on their own.
The scrapyard is automated, with visual recognition sorting incoming material, and fume treatment runs through a dual baghouse arrangement. Structural fabrication came from SIS Manufacturing in Sault Ste. Marie. At peak, the job carried about 500 construction workers and 47 apprentices, against a plant workforce of roughly 2,800. Local supplier spend had already reached C$47.7 million by December 2022.
A separate C$135 million plate mill modernisation runs alongside it. Full EAF operation is expected during 2026; the first furnace is running and the second is not yet at capacity, so the project is not finished.
Why It Matters
Danieli’s claim is that this is the first complete transition from integrated to electric arc steelmaking to actually enter operation anywhere. Plenty of producers have announced the move. Very few have lit the furnace. Algoma says the change cuts carbon dioxide output by up to 70 percent, on the order of 3 million tonnes a year, and that figure is the company’s own.
The financing is worth noting because it is not a grant. In November 2025 Algoma secured C$500 million, C$400 million from the Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation and C$100 million from the Province of Ontario, structured as seven-year facilities with warrants attached. Governments on both sides of the border are being asked to underwrite this transition; Ontario’s answer was debt with equity upside, not a cheque.
Project Team & Details
| Owner / Client | Algoma Steel Group Inc. |
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| General Contractor | Walters Group |
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| Major Subcontractors | Danieli (Steel Shop Supply and Design)
SIS Manufacturing (Structural Fabrication) |
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| Status | Under Construction |
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| Funding Source | Mixed |
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