Steelmaker Nucor Corp. now has acquired nearly 3900 acres in St James Parish, enough land to build its proposed USD 2 billion-plus mill. Still unknown, though, is whether the company will move forward with the mill, which would be part of a long-term strategy to supply raw materials to Nucor’s mini-steel mills across the south-central and SE US. Nucor bought the largest piece of property – 2816 acres for USD 30.41 million – from Entergy Corp. on 15 September 2009. A month earlier it paid the Port of South Louisiana USD 3.6 million for 172 riverfront acres, and Nucor paid Schexnayder Industrial Services Inc. USD 16.3 million for 890 acres in May. Nucor is also considering building the plant in Brazil, a hotbed of steel industry development.