Steel Mills

US Steel Asserts Ownership of USSC Intellectual Property
Written by Sandy Williams
June 9, 2016
A new wrinkle has developed in the dispute between US Steel Canada and its former parent US Steel.
US Steel is claiming ownership of USSC’s intellectual property and says the Canadian company cannot include it in the sale of its facilities.
USSC’s chief restructuring officer, Bill Aziz, said that without a clear title to the intellectual property, which includes the formulas and processes for its advanced high strength steels, the sales process will be impaired and make it difficult to secure a buyer.
“U.S.S.C. has historically been a significant supplier to the automotive industry of products including advanced high-strength steels,” Aziz said.
He added the company’s “production assets have excellent and well-demonstrated capability for the production of such steels and that the uncertainty with respect to potential restrictions on U.S.S.C.’s ability to produce advanced high-strength steels could diminish the value of U.S.S.C. and/or its assets in the eyes of participants in the (sales process).”
US Steel Canada has petitioned the court to decide which company owns the intellectual property. That motion will be heard in court on Monday, June 13.

Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Mills

As Q1 loss balloons, Cliffs pledges to cut costs, streamline operations
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. gushed red ink in the first quarter, and pledged to stem the bleeding by idling inefficient, “loss-making operations” and increasing focus on its core automotive business.

Cliffs plans to idle three mills, cut 950 jobs on ‘insufficient demand and pricing’
Cleveland-Cliffs plans to indefinitely idle its steel mill in Riverdale, Ill., as well as mills in Conshohocken, Pa., and Steelton, Pa. The Cleveland-based steelmaker said all three facilities would be idled on or around June 30. Approximately 950 jobs will be impacted, the company said.

CRU: Usiminas may reduce capex unless government strengthens protection
“The lack of effective measures to create fair competition, amid a surge in subsidized imports, is the main threat to the sustainability of Brazil’s steel industry and its value chain,” CEO Marcelo Chara said.

USS swings to loss in first quarter on N. American flat-rolled segment woes
U.S. Steel CEO praised the company’s resilience, “despite the seasonally low results driven by annual mining logistics constraints in our North American Flat-Rolled segment and lagging spot prices.”

Nucor gives updates on new capacity coming online
Nucor said several of its capital projects will start operations within the next year and provided an update on them.