AK signs coke deal purchase from SunCoke Haverhill plant

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WEST CHESTER TWP. — AK Steel Corp. has agreed to purchase metallurgical coke from SunCoke Energy’s Haverhill facility for at least 12 years.

Under the agreement, SunCoke’s Haverhill North Coke Company plant in Franklin Furnace, Ohio, will provide AK Steel with up to 550,000 tons of coke annually — a key steelmaking raw material. AK also will receive a financial benefit from the electricity generated at the plant when it is sold to the power grid. The 12-year agreement includes two five-year renewal options. The contract is effective immediately, however terms were not released.

AK officials emphasized that the Haverhill contract does not replace nor diminish the company’s need for the coke and electricity from SunCoke’s proposed Middletown Coke Company project.

“We have a very long view of our business and as we look out into the future this will give us added flexibility,” said AK spokesman Alan McCoy.

Construction for the $340 million coke plant off Yankee Road in Middletown near the Monroe border has been stalled for almost a year as SunCoke voluntarily halted work due to a myriad of appeals and a lawsuit following the issuance of its first air permit by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency in November 2008.

SunCoke is seeking a New Source Review permit, issued in draft form in July and under review by the state agency.

Thomas Golembeski, spokesman for SunCoke, said the Haverhill agreement has no impact on its local plans.

“Both AK Steel and SunCoke continue to vigorously support the Middletown Coke Company project,” he said.

While the steelmaker said it has no immediate plans to idle any of its existing coke-making capacity, McCoy said AK has “ongoing concerns” for its Ashland Works coke batteries in Kentucky due to age and environmental compliance costs.