Indiana port gets slag handler

   The Port of Indiana said Phoenix Services has signed a multi-year contract with ArcelorMittal to provide slag and processing services for the Burns Harbor steel giant.
   Slag is a product generated during the iron- and steel-making processes. Phoenix has opened a 13-acre distribution facility at the port and is installing processing equipment at various locations throughout the ArcelorMittal complex.
   “We are in the process of installing the most technologically advanced slag processing plant in the world,” said Doug Lane, president of Phoenix Services, in a statement.
   Phoenix was founded by Lane in 2006 and is based in Kennett Square, Pa. The company now has 25 facilities located in the United States, Europe and South Africa and nearly 1,000 employees domestically. The company is creating about 80 jobs between the Indiana port facility and operations within the ArcelorMittal mill.
   Phoenix will dig the ArcelorMittal blast furnace pits to recover scrap iron and slag and will process the slag into aggregate for use in local road construction projects. Slag can also be used in general construction, ice control, railroad ballast and improving water and soil quality. ArcelorMittal will reuse the recovered iron and Phoenix will distribute aggregates from the port by truck for local construction and by barge to manufacturing facilities around the country.
   The Port of Indiana is now home to 30 companies – 16 steel-related firms – which benefit from the facility’s multi-modal connections, specialized services and foreign-trade zone status. The 600-acre port handled more than 2 million tons of cargo in 2011 via international ships, lake vessels and river barges. Ratner Steel Supply Co. recently announced plans to locate a new steel-processing facility at the port, creating up to 30 new jobs by 2015.