Author: mf : 03/21/07

(July 2006) At its recent June meeting, the Board of Directors of ELLWOOD Group, Inc. approved a project to install a ladle furnace at ELLWOOD National Steel (ENS) in Irvine, PA. The new equipment will complement the EAF and Tank Degassing unit already in use at the site. The Board?s approval is subject to the issuance of the necessary Title V Air Quality operating permit. The Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection posted the permit application for public comment on June 9, 2006.

Total expenditures for the second phase of the ENS melt shop renovation will be approximately $26 million. Besides the state-of-the art ladle furnace, the equipment list includes a new teeming crane, a new scrap yard crane, an ingot conditioning facility, and any auxiliary support equipment necessary to produce up to 90,000 tons of forging ingots per year, with a two shift off-peak melting operation. The ladle furnace?s target start-up date is June of 2007.