Announcements

December 5, 2002

Taylor Steel Inc. is pleased to announce its plan to build a dedicated Class 1 Automotive Exposed steel storage facility in Stoney Creek, Ontario. The facility will be built in two phases. Phase One will consist of a new building 190,000 square feet in size. The building is scheduled to be operational in October 2003.

Phase Two of the construction plan will add another 115,000 square feet resulting in a total storage area of 305,000 square feet dedicated to Class 1 steel storage. At completion, the facility will be capable of housing over 200,000 tons double stacked or 120,000 tons single stacked.

The new facility will be designed to meet or exceed the automotive industry's requirements for Class 1 automotive storage. The facility will bave the following key features:

• 45-ton cranes - two per storage bay - maximum lift weight capacity of 75,600lbs.
• State of the art HVAC systems with automated humidity and dew-point control.
• Dust control system with air curtain truck doors, positive pressure and epoxy sealed concrete floors.
• Full EDI communication system for receiving, shipping, inventory management and defect reporting.
• Fully trained personnel familiar with the handling procedures necessary for exposed applications.
• Continuous operations to serve our customers' delivery needs - 7 x 24
• Quality control systems - ISO9002 certified.
• Drive through lanes for prompt and efficient loading and unloading of product.
• A concrete drive staging area for 14 trucks outside and 8 trucks inside at one time.
• Wide bay design (100feet) to maximize coil storage area as well as allow for improved traffic flow between bays.
• Single stacked material will be placed on individual protective coil pads.
• Bar code tag scanning systems for timely inventory reporting.
• The site will be prepared for future rail access should the need arise.

This new facility is located within close proximity to the producing mills and our customer base. The total storage capacity available at Taylor Steel Inc.'s Stoney Creek facilities would be in excess of 255,000 tons. Additionally, this capital investment will allow an estimated increase in processing throughput of 125,000 tons per year on existing equipment in our Plant 5 facility.

John MacDonald
Vice President & General Manager