Steel Mills

USS idles iron, steelmaking 'indefinitely' at Granite City Works
Written by Ethan Bernard
November 28, 2023
U.S. Steel said it has indefinitely idled steelmaking at its Granite City Works in southern Illinois near St. Louis.
“U.S. Steel has indefinitely idled Granite City’s primary operations and will meet customer demand by leveraging the company’s active iron and steelmaking facilities,” a spokeswoman for U.S. Steel said in a statement to SMU on Tuesday.
“This action was taken in order to help ensure melt capacity is balanced with our order book,” she added.
The spokeswoman noted that the company “has sent the required notices to employees who potentially may be affected.”
U.S. Steel issued ~1,000 workers a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice that they might be laid off. The company added that it expected ~60% of those would likely lose their jobs, according to a report from St. Louis NBC affiliate KSDK.
“We thank our employees for their contributions and will keep them informed throughout this process,” the spokeswoman said.
Recall that in early October, U.S. Steel had announced layoffs of ~300 workers at Granite City. This came after the idling of blast furnace ‘B’ in mid-September.
U.S. Steel said at the time that the idling was in response to the United Auto Workers (UAW) union strike. The UAW strike officially concluded with ratification votes in favor of a new labor contract earlier this month.
The ‘A’ furnace was indefinitely idled in April 2020, according to SMU’s blast furnace status table.

Ethan Bernard
Read more from Ethan BernardLatest in Steel Mills

USW seeks clarity on 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).