Steel Mills

U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson BF Incident
Written by Sandy Williams
April 11, 2019
U.S. Steel Mon Valley is not producing pig iron due to an accident at their #1 Blast Furnace and the reline of the remaining furnace. According to U.S. Steel spokeswoman Meghan Cox, there was an issue with the top charging equipment in Blast Furnace #1 at the Edgar Thomson Plant. Sources told SMU that a bell fell into the furnace causing damage. There were no injuries to workers. The accident occured on Monday of this week.
The #1 furnace was being run while a reline was underway in a second blast furnace at the plant. The reline is expected to be completed by the end of May. With both furnaces now down, no pig iron and ultimately steel is being made at the plant (blast furnaces feed the Basic Oxygen furnaces where steel is produced).
Mon Valley Works consists of four steel facilities: Egar Thompson Plant where the blast furnaces are located along with the Clariton Plant, which is the largest coke manufacturing facility in the United States (this plant just finished repairs to correct air quality issues). The rolling mills are located at the Irwin Plant and coating lines are located at the Irwin and Fairless facilities. Total combined steelmaking capacity for Mon Valley Works is 2.9 million tons, according to the U.S. Steel website. Due to the configeration of the various plants, the rolling mills use slabs and there is most likely an inventory of slabs for the rolling mills to use as they repair the damage to the #1 Blast Furnace.
Cox said a crew is working around the clock to make repairs, which should be completed in less than two weeks.
U.S. Steel does not anticipate any impact to customers.

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.