8/16/2017

BIG RIVER STEEL:

A NEW COMPANY AND A NEW WAY TO
THINK ABOUT STEEL
DAVID STICKLER
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
September 12, 2017

New Way To Think

About Steel

In the three years since the company was formed and we closed
on $1.6 billion of financing, we have strived to think outside the
box in regard to operations, risk mitigation, customer service,
inventory management and the use of artificial intelligence

The status quo is not acceptable at Big River Steel

In fact, at Big River Steel we have an answer that is NOT allowed:

“That’s the way we’ve always done it”

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Accomplished
So Far

Self built a world class facility in just over two years

Outstanding construction safety record: Lost Day Incident Rate of

.11 versus construction average of 2.8

Our technology, energy conservation and environmental focus

facilitated Big River Steel becoming the first steel mill in the
world to be LEED certified

First steel producer asked to become a member of the Center for

Collision and Safety Analysis—we are sitting at the design table
with the world’s automakers

Accomplished
So Far (cont’d)

First heat prime commercial grade steel

World record start-up for a steel mini mill in terms of tons

produced in the first full month of operation — 63,000 tons

EBITDA profitable in second month of operation and every

month thereafter

Operated at almost 80% of rated capacity in month four

Well on our way to producing 1.65 million tons of steel with

450 employees — close to 4,000 tons of steel per employee

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How We
Came Together

Big River Steel is supported by industrial and financial investors with

a shared objective of building and rapidly growing a technology
focused steel company — in it for the long term

Why We Came
Together

Investment thesis: Cost structure equal to or close to mini mill

competitors and product complement equal to or close to
integrated competitors

Always room in the market for a technologically advanced

producer with a competitive cost structure

85% of costs three items: metallics, electrical power and labor

Mill design allows for product penetration into numerous

markets

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Why We Came
Together (cont’d)

Use of AHSS growing both in auto sector and non-auto

applications (e.g., rail cars and construction equipment)

Electrical steel consumption growing, with a clear recognition

that the line loss levels throughout our electrical grid system are
not acceptable

Big River Steel extensively used HSS tube to build its facility and
the savings were clearly proven — we expect this market to
continue to grow

Construction
Highlights

Enough concrete poured to lay a sidewalk from Memphis

to New York City

1,400 miles of cable installed, enough to get from Memphis

to Las Vegas

14 miles of onsite railroad track installed

Water table lowered 56 feet during construction

Close to 6 million man hours of labor

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December 2015
Record High Water

Technology

Big River Steel fully embraces the use of advanced technology

Automation throughout the mill helps keep our head count low
and our yields high

Installed over 50,000 sensors and data collection devices—

allowing us to move well beyond predictive maintenance

Use of artificial intelligence positions us as the world’s first

Learning Mill with early results extremely promising

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Technology
(cont’d)

Systems operate in the cloud resulting in tens of millions of

dollars of network infrastructure savings while providing
enhanced data security

Only EAF mini mill in North America with an RH degasser—

nitrogen and carbon levels below 25 ppm

Able to produce 1” thick coils

10% elongation on skin pass mill

Beefiness

Beefiness of Mill
80
(width x thickness of hotband inches)
76

70

60

48.375
50
45
40 40 41.8
40
34.375
30 31
30

20

10

0
Delta SDI Crawfordsville Gallatin Hickman SDI Columbus Berkeley Decatur Big River
Steel*

*This is guaranteed width and thickness. SDI Columbus is exceeding its guarantee by 13.18%
If Big River Steel exceeded its guarantee by the same amount the beefiness factor would be 86.

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At our core,
we are
a technology
company.
We just
happen to
make steel.

Value Added
Initiative

Scrap procurement—typically three parties involved, why not

just two?

Why buy scrap at all?

Enhanced ability to offer our customers long-term fixed prices

without exposing our company to adverse market movements—
lock in profits now by using futures and hedges

Online auctions to buy and sell

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Environmental
Focus

From day one, we focused on environmental compliance —

we don’t just say we are green, we truly are

Our mill was designed to not only comply with US EPA standards,
but European environmental standards as well

First melt shop designed and built under Obama Administration’s

air and water quality standards

Energy
Efficiency

Our goal is to become the most energy efficient EAF steel

producer in the world

Investments made in variable speed motors throughout the mill,

high efficiency gas burners and 17 heating zones in our tunnel
furnace

Direct access to the real time power market — huge potential

Our electrical infrastructure is ideal for installing rapid response

frequency regulation battery storage

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Local Community
Impact

Suppliers, customers and service providers have already

announced a total of $300 million of investments in the local
area creating close to 300 support jobs

We have committed that our 435 jobs will pay no less than
$75,000 per year plus benefits—already well above this figure

During the building phase, over 2,000 construction jobs created

and over $300 million spent with Arkansas-based companies

We are spending over $10 million on training

Questions We
Often Receive

Why build a steel mill when there is so much excess capacity in

the market?

What impact will Big River Steel have on the demand supply
dynamics in the scrap industry?

Are you concerned about Nucor’s new automotive focused

finishing facility being built at Hickman?

What are your growth plans and will you buy or build?

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The world doesn’t need another steel mill.

The world
The worldneeds a steel
doesn’t needmill willingsteel
another to push
mill:the
boundaries
the world of what
needs a steel mill steel can
willing to do
push the
boundaries of what steel can do
Thank you for your interest
Thank you for your interest in
Big River Steel

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