Liberty Steel USA preparations for the restart of Georgetown wire mill, South Carolina, will reach another milestone this week (21^st May) with the arrival of new general manager, Revansidha “Rohit” Gulve, who is joining the operation from Gerdau Steel in Beaumont, Texas.

Already there are more than 100 recruits on site at Liberty Steel Georgetown, getting the previously shuttered melt shop, casters and rolling facilities ready for recommissioning.

Rohit Gulve, who will also become a non-executive vice-president of Liberty Steel USA, is an engineering graduate from University of Pune, India, and undertook a Masters Degree in Material Science & Engineering at Florida International University.

He entered the steel industry with North American Stainless at Ghent, Kentucky in 2006 and subsequently moved to Gerdau, Beaumont where he was responsible for an operation very similar to that at Georgetown.

He said: “I’m really excited about this project because it is one of those great challenges. Any time you restart a mill like that after three years down, it is a memory for life. My objective is to make the plant profitable in both good markets and bad and to have the best people working in the safest environment. I am very eager to understand and improve the cost structure, so it becomes a sustainable business for the long term.

“I am very positive that the wire market is strong and that every ton of quality steel we produce will be sold quickly. The steel mill has been ingrained in the Georgetown community for long time and the restart will bring very welcome employment and revenue to the city,” he added.

Michael Setterdahl, Chief Executive of Liberty Steel USA, part of Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, welcomed the new general manager. “Rohit is a great addition to our management team. With his extensive hands-on experience in both melt shop and wire rod rolling, we are very happy to have secured his services and are looking forward to working with him as we build our business in Georgetown and across America,” he said.

Liberty acquired the Georgetown plant from ArcelorMittal in December 2017 as the first part of its plan to bring its GREENSTEEL vision for low-carbon steel production to the USA.