Blast Furnace Status

SMU monitors North American integrated steel mills and the status of their blast furnaces (BFs). BFs are used to produce pig iron, which is the first stage of the steelmaking process. In addition to their operation status, the table below includes information by plant name, furnace ID, daily furnace capacity, and comments about the furnace.

Blast Furnace Status: AHMSA (Mexico)

Mill Name / Plant Furnace ID Daily Capacity (Net Tons) Running? Comments
AHMSA No. 4 2700 No Idled in late 2022/early 2023 
No. 5 6500 No Idled in late 2022/early 2023
No. 6 4500 No Idled in January 2020

Blast Furnace Status: Algoma (Canada)

Mill Name/ Plant Furnace ID Daily Capacity (Net Tons) Running? Comments
Algoma No. 7 8400 Yes Restarted Feb. 11, 2024, after 3-week unplanned outage.
No. 6 3000 No Idle. Will be decommissioned or demolished after new EAFs start up in 2024.

Blast Furnace Status: ArcelorMittal Dofasco (Canada)

Mill Name / Plant Furnace ID Daily Capacity (Net Tons) Running? Comments
Hamilton, Ontario No. 2 3200 Yes
No. 3 2500 No No. 3 temporarily idled in March 2020
No. 4 4700 Yes

Blast Furnace Status: ArcelorMittal Mexico

Mill Name / Plant Furnace ID Daily Capacity (Net Tons) Running? Comments
Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan No. 1 -- No. Forced to shut down May/June 2024 due to protests.

Blast Furnace Status: Cleveland-Cliffs

Mill Name / Plant Furnace ID Daily Capacity (Net Tons) Running? Comments
Ashland Amanda 6000 No Former AK Steel. Decommissioned in 2015. Since demolished.
Burns Harbor C Furnace 7400 Yes
D Furnace 7400 Yes
Cleveland C-5 4350 Yes Restarted in August '22 following extended outage for reline
C-6 4150 Yes Expected to go on indefinite hot idle in October
Dearborn C Furnace 6000 Yes
Indiana Harbor IH-3 W 2500 No Permanently idled in 2019
IH-4 W 4900 Yes Cliffs said on April 22, 2022 that IH-4 had been indefinitely idled
IH-5 E 2900 No Not operated since 2010. Decommissioned in 2015. Since demolished.
IH-6 E 5000 No Not operated since 2010. Decommissioned in 2015. Since demolished.
IH-7 E 11500 Yes
Middletown No. 3 6500 Yes

Blast Furnace Status: Stelco (Canada)

Mill Name / Plant Furnace ID Daily Capacity (Net Tons) Running? Comments
Hamilton E Furnace 5500 No Shut down October 2010 &removed from active status
Lake Erie No. 1 6575 Yes

Blast Furnace Status: U.S. Steel

Mill Name Furnace ID Daily Capacity (Net Tons) Running? Comments
Edgar Thomson Plant (Mon Valley Works) No. 1 3200 Yes
No. 3 2900 Yes Restarted on Jan. 27, 2023 following H2'22 idling
Fairfield Works No. 8 6000 No Permanently idled in Aug. 2015 and removed from active status
Gary Works No. 4 3800 Yes
No. 6 3450 Yes
No. 8 3000 Yes Restarted on May 20, 2024, after 45-day planned outage
No. 14 7450 Yes
Granite City Works A Furnace 3600 No A furnace indefinitely idled in April 2020
B Furnace 3600 No B furnace indefinitely idled in Nov. 2023
Great Lakes Works A-1 4100 No Permanently idled June 2019 and April 2020
B-2 3700 No
D-4 3650 No

Last reviewed: Sept. 13, 2024