Liberty Steel, once near closing, adding workers and new product line at Georgetown mill

Safety Coordinator Boris Gibson leads a tour of Liberty Steel's Georgetown mill on April 28, 2023. The mill, which restarted with a workforce of about 65 in January 2022, is in the process of hiring 35 new workers. Mike Woodel/Staff

GEORGETOWN — The workforce of Liberty Steel's Georgetown mill is growing by more than 50 percent to 100, allowing the mill to take on a second shift less than a year after a zoning decision nearly closed it permanently.

The announcement by Executive Vice President Axel Ampolini of Liberty Steel USA highlighted the mill's Employee and Customer Appreciation Day on April 28, at which state, county and local officials mixed with mill employees and customers.

In addition to the steel rods the mill already produces, Ampolini said new machinery will allow the mill to make other steel products, including steel mesh that can reinforce concrete.

Hot steel wire works its way through machinery at Liberty Steel's Georgetown mill on April 28, 2023. Mike Woodel/Staff

The expansions, taking place over the next six months, come just less than a year after the Georgetown Board of Zoning Appeals ruled that the mill could remain open despite a February 2022 zoning decision shutting down the 50-acre downtown plant after a lengthy temporary COVID closing. At a hearing last June, zoning appeals board member Blake Badger said the mill needs to "go big or go home" through investments.

According to Ampolini, such investments will come through after the mill reopened in January 2022 with 65 workers.

"Georgetown is now part of a broader steel family in the U.S.," Ampolini said.

Both Ampolini and Georgetown Mayor Carol Jayroe say the relationship between the city and Liberty Steel has warmed since the mill was approved to remain open, in the process dashing hopes among some city leaders that the site could be redeveloped.

"We absolutely have a great relationship with the executives," Jayroe said. "My hope was, if they're going to be here, to be open and running fully. If they're not going to be running, then not be here. But they're running and they have high hopes for the future, so we are here to give them our support."

Jayroe was joined by Georgetown councilmen Jimmy Morris, Jim Clements, Hobson Henry Milton and Clarence Smalls at the April 28 event. Representatives from the Georgetown County Council as well as both of Georgetown County's state representatives, Lee Hewitt and Carl Anderson, were also on hand.

The mill has been a mainstay of the corner of Front and South Fraser streets for over half a century, cycling through various owners before its purchase by Liberty Steel in 2017 and closing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The mill once employed hundreds of workers.

But spirits were high as officials toured the mill on April 28, including those of United Steelworkers Local 7898 President James Sanderson, who has presided over Georgetown's steel union since 1988.

Steel wire piled up at Liberty Steel's Georgetown mill on April 28, 2023. Mike Woodel/Staff

"It's a great feeling knowing that the city of Georgetown, the county and the employees and our customers are basically going to see a big push to be successful and to remain successful," Sanderson said. "And our longevity is just beginning."

Sanderson previously said in December 2022 that refinancing of loans held by Liberty Steel would assist the mill with upgrades, including the potential addition of a second shift.

Whether the shifts will last 10 or 12 hours is still to be decided, though Ampolini said the expansion will allow the mill to run around the clock and expand capacity from 120,000 tons per year to 300,000.

"Everything going on with infrastructure spending and construction basically makes us believe that for the next 10 years, at least, it's going to be a very vibrant market," Ampolini said. "And we then have the whole value stream by not just making the steel, but the end product that's going to that concrete reinforcement, as well."

State Rep. Carl Anderson, a Georgetown Democrat, called on county and city officials to work with their state delegation in Columbia to ensure better conditions for the mill.

"It takes all of us to work together to make sure that not only 40 more persons are hired, but we want to see these numbers going into the hundreds in a couple of years where we can secure all of Georgetown County," Anderson said.

Whether such expansion will take place remains to be seen, as Ampolini said he expects the current expansion to hold for "a couple of years." But he did note that the next opportunity for the mill would be a decision on whether to invest in a new melt shop.

"The (Georgetown) melt shop is an old one that's based on a derivative of iron ore, which is today not the best way to melt steel," Ampolini said. "So we think that we'll be assessing that in the next 5-6 years to determine based on the markets and the demand that's being built up here in South Carolina, which is very encouraging so far."

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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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