Nucor’s DiMicco Recognized by HBR: Harvard Business Review has ranked the performance of Dan DiMicco, the chairman, president and CEO of Nucor Corporation, as among the 100 best among a group of 1,999 CEOs from the Standard & Poor’s Global 1,200 and BRIC 40 company lists. The HBR article placed DiMicco among the 100 best performers during the 1997-2009 time period and said that the “real test of a CEO’s leadership has to be how the company does over his or her full tenure…”

DiMicco said that the recognition “is an honor for every member of the Nucor team. The 21,000 men and women of Nucor are working safely, working hard and working together to reward our shareholders with attractive long-term returns on their valuable capital.”

O’Neal Acquires Denman & Davis Assets: O’Neal Steel, Inc., said it has acquired the assets of Denman & Davis, with operations in Clifton, New Jersey; Albany, New York, and Slatersville, Rhode Island. “Acquiring such a well-respected and successful company as Denman and Davis gives us an immediate presence and a strong position in a key geographic area,” said Craft O’Neal, O’Neal’s chairman. O’Neal said the Denman & Davis operation will continue with David Deinzer as its president and CEO.

Iron Ore Pricing, Negotiations in Flux: China’s endless drive for preferential iron ore pricing has run into economic reality with a sudden surge in ore prices. The official China Daily newspaper said on Wednesday that price increases from India have boosted the spot market to a level more than 50% higher than the 2009 benchmark price negotiated by Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Vale, the three largest iron ore producers. Indian ore for 63% iron ore fines delivered to China was priced as high as $132 a ton this week.

The ore price increases come as China continues its breakneck increase in steel capacity and production. For example, Wuhan Iron & Steel Group said it will raise its production 24% this year to 37.9 million tons. Luo Bingsheng of the China Iron & Steel Association, which failed in negotiations for an iron ore contract price last year, said with production pressures and spot iron ore prices rising, talks for a 2010 contract price have been “quite difficult.”

In separate developments, metals trader China Minmetals Corporation said it will work with Shunde Rixin Development Co. to import and market Chilean iron ore.

New Construction in India: The Indian state of Karnataka said that meetings on Thursday with ArcelorMittal representatives ended with agreement for that steel company to spend $6.6 billion to build a new mill, with annual production capacity of six million tons. The facility is in addition to previously announced ArcelorMittal plans for new, 12 million ton steel plants in Orissa and Jharkhand.

Lakshmi Mittal, the company’s CEO, said he committed to the plant because “there are a lot of assurances from the Karnataka government and there is a clear commitment from them…We are very impressed with the kind of support and cooperation we are receiving from them.” This is in contrast to the situation in the other two states, where long-announced projects have languished over problems securing land and iron ore rights.

Karnataka also said that South Korea’s POSCO, which like ArcelorMittal has been stymied for years in its plans to build a 12 million tons steel mill in Orissa, now expects to establish a six-million-ton plant in the more receptive state.

Breaking Bundles: U.S. imports of steel in 2009 totaled about 16 million tons, a decline of 50% from 2008. But the American Iron and Steel Institute said that the market share of imports remained a relatively high 18%… Worthington Industries, in its earnings report for the fiscal second quarter ended November 30, said it continues “to operate in a historically low demand environment” that makes full-year forecasting difficult… China became the world’s largest auto market in 2009 with a 42% sales gain to well over 12 million units, the Shanghai Daily reported… Japanese steel companies JFE Steel and Sumitomo Metal Industries are negotiating with India’s JSW Group and Bhushan Steel for substantial minority stakes in new steel mills, the Economic Times of India reports…Gerdau Ameristeel said that its Sand Springs, Oklahoma, steel mill, will remain closed despite efforts by the state and local governments to develop a plan that would make activation of the facility possible…Alcoa says it has formed a joint venture with the Saudi Arabian Mining Company to build an aluminum industry in Saudi Arabia that will be the “world’s preeminent and lowest-cost supplier of primary aluminum, alumina and aluminum products…”… Nicole Lamb-Hale, a Harvard Law School classmate of President Obama, has been named assistant secretary for manufacturing and services in the Commerce Department, Manufacturing and Technology News reports… The constitutional court of France has ruled that a system of exemptions for industry from carbon emissions legislation violates the principal of equality and makes the proposed tax on carbon emissions illegal… Hyundai Steel of South Korea, which up to now has operated minimills, has started its new, No. 1 blast furnace and its mill in Dangjin as part of a $5 billion investment program to become an integrated producer… Alcoa said it reached an agreement with the Bonneville Power Administration to provide electric power to its Intalco aluminum smelter at Ferndale, Washington, thus keeping the facility in operation.