U.S. Steel restarts blast furnace #4 at Gary Works
2020-12-02 14:44:29 [Print]
U.S. Steel is restarting blast furnace #4 at its Gary Works steel mill earlier than anticipated as the steel market recovers.
The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker took the blast furnace offline in April for a planned maintenance project but left it idle as the COVID-19 pandemic roiled the domestic steel industry.
U.S. Steel executives previously warned during a conference call with investors it likely would keep the No. 4 blast furnace at Gary Works and blast furnace A at Granite City Works in Illinois -- which have a joint capacity of 2.9 million tons of pig iron a year -- idled through at least the end of 2020.
But the steel market has been rebounding after automakers resumed production and Cleveland-Cliffs moved to consolidate production to just two big integrated players in the United States. So U.S. Steel will bring the blast furnace -- which turns iron ore, coke and limestone into the pig iron that's made into steel -- back online next week.
The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker took the blast furnace offline in April for a planned maintenance project but left it idle as the COVID-19 pandemic roiled the domestic steel industry.
U.S. Steel executives previously warned during a conference call with investors it likely would keep the No. 4 blast furnace at Gary Works and blast furnace A at Granite City Works in Illinois -- which have a joint capacity of 2.9 million tons of pig iron a year -- idled through at least the end of 2020.
But the steel market has been rebounding after automakers resumed production and Cleveland-Cliffs moved to consolidate production to just two big integrated players in the United States. So U.S. Steel will bring the blast furnace -- which turns iron ore, coke and limestone into the pig iron that's made into steel -- back online next week.
