Steel Mills
USS Plans Maintenance Outage at Gary Works' No. 6
Written by David Schollaert
August 13, 2021
Integrated steelmaker U.S. Steel is taking the No. 6 blast furnace at its Gary Works steel mill offline for 38 days beginning at the end of next month, a company spokesperson confirmed to Steel Market Update.
The planned maintenance outage at its Indiana facility is scheduled for Sept. 30 and should run through Nov. 9. This is the first lengthier outage to the furnace since it was idled for two months because of COVID-19-related closures in April 2020.
The scope of work to the 1.23-million-ton-per-year furnace includes repairs and replacement of the hot blast system and furnace top equipment, said the U.S. Steel spokesperson.
This extensive outage to No. 6 coincides with U.S. Steel’s week-long maintenance program scheduled for its Big River Steel operations during Q4.
This latest outage enters the queue of fourth-quarter maintenance programs across North American steelmakers. In addition to U.S. Steel’s planned outages, Cleveland-Cliffs’ Indiana Harbor No. 7 blast furnace will be offline for approximately 45 days, while Nucor’s Gallatin, Ky., flat-rolled mill will undergo maintenance on its electric-arc furnace for roughly 30 days at the end of November.
By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com
David Schollaert
Read more from David SchollaertLatest in Steel Mills
USW seeks clarity on USS plans for Granite City Works
The United Steelworkers union has asked U.S. Steel to elaborate on its Granite City Works plans following reports that the steelmaker is ending processing at the facility.
Nucor maintains plate prices, opens October order book
Nucor aims to keep plate prices flat for a seventh straight month with the opening of its October order book.
ArcelorMittal Mexico to import from sister mills as it works to resume DRI production
ArcelorMittal has partially restarted operations at its direct reduction plant in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan. An explosion on Aug. 18 rocked the massive steelworks on Mexico’s Pacific coast, impacting production of direct-reduced iron (DRI).
Fall maintenance outages are coming in hot
Labor Day has passed, the sun is starting to set a little earlier each day, and cooler weather has begun to find its way down to many of us across North America. And you know what that means for the steel industry… Fall maintenance outages!
AISI: Domestic steel production ticks up
US raw steel production ticked up in the week ending on Sept. 6 after a decrease the week before, according to the most recent data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).