Georgetown's Liberty Steel mill will soon have a new owner after years of struggles

Steel wire is piled up at Liberty Steel's Georgetown mill. InfraBuild announced May 29 that the company had closed on a $350 million loan to buy GFG Alliance's American-based steel industry assets, which includes Liberty Steel USA's plant. File/Mike Woodel/Staff

GEORGETOWN — An Australian firm plans to purchase Georgetown's downtown steel mill, potentially preserving one of the coastal city's longtime factories and dozens of jobs.

InfraBuild, which is run by the parent company of the mill's current owner, announced May 29 that the company had closed on a $350 million loan to buy GFG Alliance's American-based steel industry assets, which includes Liberty Steel USA's plant. No date was released on when the sale could be completed.

James Sanderson, president of United Steelworkers Local 7898, said that after speaking with the potential new owners that the mill, a mainstay of Front and South Fraser streets for over half a century, is in Georgetown to stay.

"We're just very excited about this transition," Sanderson said.

InfraBuild did not respond to a request for comment May 31. GFG Alliance declined to comment.

Georgetown's economy relied heavily on the lumber industry in the early 20th century before the arrival of International Paper's plant in 1936. Georgetown Steel helped further diversify the community's industrial base in the late 1960s, but the mill cycled through various owners and changes in the industry that reduced its workforce before it was purchased by Liberty Steel in 2017.

The plant that makes steel wire used in tires and bridge cables closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic but started operating again in January 2022 with about 65 workers, well below the hundreds of employees that made the plant one of the city's largest employers.

The reopening, however, was challenged under a city ordinance that would rezone the plant site if operations ceased for a year. The mill is near Georgetown's main business district and the 50-acre plant site is considered a prime spot for tourism development. But Liberty and its supporters defeated rezoning efforts.

The mill's owner recently announced a workforce expansion of more than 50 percent.

Sanderson said he has met with InfraBuild in the past, but he had not spoken with the company's interim CEO, Dak Patel, since the May 29 announcement. Sanderson said he's confident company representatives will visit the city and mill soon.

"They will be looking at it and examining and looking at all the capital improvements that could be done at our facility here in Georgetown," Sanderson said.

Patel said in a May 29 statement that the new financing will allow Infrabuild "to continue to grow our business and service a customer base which spans the infrastructure, commercial and residential construction, agriculture and mining markets."

InfraBuild's presence in the United States consists of a pair of recycling sites in LaPlace, La., and Tampa, Fla.

Other GFG-owned businesses that could be involved in the acquisition are manufacturer Keystone Consolidated Industries and Pennsylvania-based Johnstown Wire Technologies.

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that the company buying the Georgetown steel mill is run by the parent company of the mill's current owner.

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Mike Woodel reports on Georgetown County for The Post and Courier. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2018 and previously worked for newspapers in Montana and South Dakota.

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