Steel Mills
Furnaces Partially Restored at Gary Works Following Last Week’s Flood
Written by Sandy Williams
December 3, 2019
Service has been restored to the largest of the blast furnaces, and a second furnace will be back online shortly, following a water pipe break Nov. 27 that forced U.S. Steel to shut down all three operating furnaces at its Gary Works mill. In an update on Monday, a spokesperson said the third furnace is expected to be restarted later this week. Customers should not be adversely impacted by the disruption in production, the company said.
“On Nov. 27, U.S. Steel reported a service water leak that caused flooding at our Gary Works facility near our blast furnace operations. As a precaution, we proactively stopped the blast furnaces and steel production to protect our people, assets and the environment until the issue was resolved,” the company reported in a statement last week.
The company noted some discoloration at the water leak outfall and notified environmental authorities. “Additional water sampling is ongoing to ensure compliance with environmental regulatory requirements, though we have not noted any exceedances in our testing to date,” said a U.S. Steel spokesperson.
Located on the south shore of Lake Michigan, Gary Works has both steelmaking and finishing facilities. The mill has an annual raw steel making capacity of 7.5 million tons per year and produces hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized sheet products.
U.S. Steel has targeted Gary Works and Mon Valley Works for asset improvements to complement its new minority ownership in Big River Steel.
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.