Steel Mills
Cliffs To Restart IH No7 Blast Furnace After Weekend Fire
Written by Michael Cowden
November 28, 2022
Cleveland-Cliffs expects to resume operations this week on the No. 7 blast furnace at its Indiana Harbor steel mill in East Chicago, Ind., after a small fire, a company spokeswoman confirmed.
The fire occurred over the weekend and at the beginning of a three-day planned maintenance outage, she told Steel Market Update on Monday, Nov. 28.
“The minor fire was extinguished immediately. There are no damages or injuries. We will be back in operation this week, as planned,” the spokeswoman said.
A three-day outage at No. 7 is notable because the blast furnace is the largest in North America. It has capacity of 11,500 tons of iron per day. It is also the only active blast furnace at Indiana Harbor, according to SMU’s blast furnace status table.
Approximately 20 miles south of Chicago, Indiana Harbor has annual steelmaking capacity of 5.5 million tons. It makes a full-range of hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated products – including exposed grades for the automotive industry and American Petroleum Institute (API) grades for the energy sector.
Other key markets for the mill include appliance, construction, and distribution, per a fact sheet about the plant.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Mills
USS Clairton begins full production of batteries 19 and 20, 13 and 14 hot idled
U.S. Steel has activated batteries 19 and 20 at its Clairton Coke Works facility after pausing each “out of an abundance precaution” following an explosion at the site on Aug. 11.
Steel Summit: Schneider sees SDI ‘on the edge of a very good run’
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) President and Chief Operating Officer, Barry Schneider, remains bullish about the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker’s position in the current market.
Steel Summit: Burritt says USS and Nippon are fast-tracking modern steelmaking
U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt told audiences at SMU's Steel Summit 2025 that the iconic American steelmaker’s partnership with Nippon Steel is fast-tracking smarter steel production.
Nucor moves to stop HRC price slide with $10/ton hike
Nucor is attempting to halt the decline in hot-rolled coil prices with the announcement of a $10-per-short-ton increase in its weekly consumer spot price on Monday.
Explosion rocks ArcelorMittal’s DR plant in Mexico
ArcelorMittal reported a "strong" explosion at the direct reduction part of its massive Lazaro Cardenas mill in Mexico.