Steel Mills

Furnace Incident at AK Steel Injures Two Employees
Written by Sandy Williams
January 21, 2016
A reaction in one of the furnaces in the melt shop at AK Steel Butler led to two employees receiving non-life threatening injuries on Wednesday afternoon.
According to AK Steel spokesperson Lisa Jester, reports that the furnace exploded are exaggerated.
“To be clear, the reaction was inside the furnace and the furnace is intact–it would be inaccurate to say the furnace exploded,” wrote Jester in an email to SMU.
One employee was treated for burns at a local hospital. The other employee was treated on-site for minor injuries.
Although, not classified as an explosion by the company, media reports indicate a portion of the roof blew off from the impact that injured the two workers. The furnace reportedly involved was the 175-ton capacity electric arc furnace.
Officials are investigating the cause of the incident. AK Steel said no interruption to customer orders is expected.

Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Mills

U.S. Steel sues Algoma over iron pellet shipments
U.S. Steel is suing Algoma over the Canadian flat-rolled producer's rejection of iron pellet shipments, arguing it has breached its contract.

August US mill shipments slip but still higher than last year
The American Iron and Steel Institute reported a decline in the monthly shipments of US mills from July to August.

TransPod, Algoma, Supreme Steel linkup anchors Canadian steel in high-speed transit build
The three Canadian companies have announced a strategic partnership to support the development of an ultra-high-speed transit line from Edmonton to Calgary.

Metallus, USW agree to tentative four-year labor deal
Metallus and the United Steelworkers (USW) have agreed to a tentative four-year labor contract.

ArcelorMittal Dofasco resumes cokemaking after emergency maintenance
The Canadian steelmaker reported on Sept. 30 that “urgent maintenance” was needed in its coke plant off-gas systems. The work required coke oven gas from the No. 2 coke plant to be flared for most of that week.