Ricardo Anawate, originally from Brazil, is a forty-year veteran of the steel industry. He graduated in Metallurgical Engineering in Brazil and became a specialist in Electrical Steelmaking Engineering in Nagoya, Japan. He became an American citizen in 2017.

Mr. Anawate oversees the Optimus steel mill in Orange County just across the river from downtown Beaumont. The mill recycles steel and produces 700,000 tons of wire annually which is 15% of the North American wire market. That weight roughly equals 311,000 average pickup trucks. The mill’s product is used by manufacturers throughout America.

The mill had its start in 1976 as Georgetown Steel and was owned by a German Steelmaker named Korf Corporation. In 1983 It was acquired by North Star Steel, a division of Cargill. Then in 2004, Cargill sold the mill to the Gerdau Group, a multinational steelmaker. Finally in 2018, the mill was acquired by WMC of Houston and was named Optimus Steel.

The mill employs 370 people and uses 3000-degree electric furnaces to turn scrap metal into liquid steel. The steel wire they produce then is made into numerous products such as coat hangers, shopping carts, fencing, fasteners, welding products, springs, staples, nails, mesh, PC strand and rebar for concrete, and even patio furniture. Still another use for their product is the wire in campaign signs that are stuck in the ground all around the city by candidates prior to voting day.

The mill has its own wharf where it imports its raw material (scrap metal) and exports much of its product down the Neches to the Intracoastal waterway and then to the Mississippi River in order to travel up to several mills owned by WMC in Illinois and Ohio. It works closely with the Port of Beaumont. The mill also transports much of its product by truck and rail.

The process of melting the scrap metal to liquid steel is very hazardous with the high voltage involved and high temperatures of the liquid steel, so Optimus has a detailed safety program in place. As a result, the mill has received multiple Steel Manufacturer’s Association Safety Awards.

Over the next several years, Optimus has plans to double the output of the mill by upgrading its equipment to state-of-the-art furnaces and rolling mills. With this expansion, Optimus expects to be producing one and one-half million tons of wire and rebar annually.