The minimill, which has grown into the second-biggest U.S. steelmaker, fired its highly respected chief executive, John Correnti, 52.

FORBES: Iron Wills

In 1967 he acquired a minimill in So Paulo and over the next decade added more minimills throughout Brazil.

FORBES: Keeping It In The Family

Minimill operators such as Nucor, built on modern, flexible, non-unionised labour, have another quarter, and continue to take market share.

ECONOMIST: Lessons from the death of LTV

The U.S. integrated steel business is dirty, cyclical and always under siege from foreign producers and nimble, low-cost U.S. minimill operators like Nucor Corp.

FORBES: Man of steel

He had built North Star Steel, a division of privately held Cargill, into the second-biggest minimill operator behind Nucor Corp. (a minimill starts with scrap rather than ore).

FORBES: Iron Wills

He is the founder and chief executive of Steel Dynamics (nasdaq: STLD - news - people ) (38, STLD) , which is a smaller version (4.7 million tons a year) of Nucor, a low-cost minimill operator.

FORBES: Takeover Targets