ArcelorMittal USA will idle Blast Furnace No. 3 at the company’s Indiana Harbor works instead of undergoing the expense of relining it, which is required every few decades to maintain operability.
"Blast Furnace No. 3 at ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor has reached the end of its current campaign and requires significant capital investment for continued operation," ArcelorMittal spokesman Bill Steers said in a statement. "The furnace will be taken down in a safe and orderly fashion and preserved to maintain our capacity for when customer demand merits the necessary capital investments for a new campaign."
The blast furnace had a capacity of 4,500 tons of pig iron per day, and the temporary idling leaves the Indiana Harbor mill with two remaining blast furnaces in operation.
"This will not impact ArcelorMittal USA’s ability to meet current customer demand," the statement continued. "The 35 employees currently employed at Blast Furnace No. 3 operations will be reassigned to other operations at Indiana Harbor, and no layoffs are expected as a result of this action."