Cliffs confirms Cleveland furnace restart, Dearborn furnace idling

A spokesperson from Cliffs said its pickling line tandem cold mill (PLTCM) and its extra-wide automotive-grade galvanizing line for exposed parts will continue operating at Dearborn.

The Cleveland C-6 furnace, with a daily capacity of 4,150 short tons, had been idled since October.

During the company’s first-quarter earnings call, Chairman, President, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves outlined the current plan. He explained that the Cleveland, Ohio-based steel producer was actively pursuing efficiency plans for the mill and saw restarting a different furnace as a more effective way to achieve operational efficiency.

“Dearborn has a stranded blast furnace/BOF/caster without a hot strip mill. We’ll be replacing Dearborn current production of hot metal with the restart of our Cleveland #6 blast furnace,” Goncalves said in March.

He continued, “[It] should be back in operation by the time the Dearborn blast furnace is idle. The mines and the Dearborn blast furnace idles are geared toward efficiency gains.”

In March, the company issued WARN notices to approximately 600 workers in Dearborn. The layoffs officially began on July 15.

Cliffs has since announced it would also idle its facilities in Riverdale, Ill.; Conshohocken, Pa.; and Steelton, Pa. On May 2, Cliffs told SMU, “[Idles] are a necessary response to insufficient demand and pricing for the products the affected facilities produce, including rail, specialty plate, and high-carbon sheet; all of which fall outside of Cliffs’ core business focus.”