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Danieli Working On First California Steel Mill in 50 Years By Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT
Work on California’s first steel mill in California in five decades is on schedule and progressing as planned. Crews are excavating the Mojave Micro Mill’s deep foundations and will be pouring concrete for the first foundation in midJuly. Connections for construction water in the desert setting have been completed, and work is ongoing on fencing, temporary power and site grading. Since its 2014 inception, Pacific Steel Group (PSG) served as a leading reinforcing steel fabrication and placement company in the western U.S. Then in 2019, the last rebar producer in California closed, leaving Pacific Steel little choice but to buy and transport steel from out-of-state producers. That’s when the group made the decision to fill the gap in the market on their own. In March 2025, PSG broke ground on the Mojave Micro Mill, the first steel mill to be built in California in the last five decades and California’s first zero-process carbon emissions rebar mill. Danieli Corp. is the main contractor, Hatch Engineering will oversee site management and procurement, Largo is the concrete subcontractor and PSG will provide and install the fabricated rebar. Once operating, the mill is expected to provide permanent employment for about 400 employees. The $630 million project will employ about 515 construction workers on average, peaking at about 600 over a two-year period, said Mark Olson, vice-president of mill operations. “We looked at an opportunity to vertically integrate our business and produce our own reinforcing steel for our own customers that we would then fabricate and install in construction projects throughout primarily a range of 400 miles,” Olson said. “That was really the genesis of this project.” “Pacific Steel Group’s investment in Kern County is more
A rendering of the Mojave Micro Mill
than just the construction of a steel mill — it’s a transformational step forward for our local economy and workforce,” said supervisor Chris Parlier at the groundbreaking. “The Mojave Micro Mill represents the future of American manufacturing, producing seismic-grade, green rebar right here in Kern County.” Among the biggest challenges so far has been winning approval for the project in the Mojave Desert under The California Quality Act (CEQA), Olson said. “The regulatory process was daunting. We knew that it would be, and it should be. So, I'd say when we achieved approval last March, we achieved a major milestone. It took us from the time we signed the contract for our steel mill provider until we received CEQA approval 23 months later. And anybody that knows anything about CEQA in California knows that quite an accomplishment.” see STEEL page 6
A John Deere 350 excavator begins on site prep in the Mojave Desert for the Pacific Steel Group.