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
Nucor breaks ground on new Berkeley galv line
Nucor broke ground on a new galvanizing line at its Nucor Steel Berkeley sheet mill in Huger, S.C., on Thursday, May 2.
USS, Nippon merger delayed by DOJ antitrust review
The sale of U.S. Steel Corp. to Nippon Steel Corp. has been delayed by the US Department of Justice’s antitrust investigation. The Justice Department, which is conducting an antitrust review of the merger, has requested additional information from both USS and NSC. The companies originally anticipated closing the sale in the second or third quarter […]
U.S. Steel Q1 earnings slip, BRS expansions proceed
U.S. Steel posted slightly lower Q1’24 earnings as stronger earnings from its sheet mills were partially offset by a weaker performance from it tubular division. All told, the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker reported Q1’24 earnings of $171 million. That's down 14.1% from $199 million in Q1’23 on sales that fell 6.9% to $4.16 billion in the same comparison.
ArcelorMittal says Calvert CR outage over, floats buying Nippon’s stake in JV
ArcelorMittal posted a narrower Q1’24 profit compared to Q1’23 but remained optimistic about steel's long-term demand prospects.
SMU Community Chat: Hybar’s ambitious plans as newest player in rebar
Hybar has big plans for entering the American steel market. Although it is the newest player in the US rebar market, the startup is led by an experienced, nimble, and ambitious team, and backed by investors with deep pockets. Industry titan and Hybar CEO David Stickler joined SMU Managing Editor Michael Cowden on Wednesday’s Community Chat to update the SMU community on the company’s first mill, and its grand plans for the future.