ArcelorMittal plans to restart its previously idled "No. 2" blast furnace at Tubarao works in southeast Brazil this October, which has been out of production since the economic meltdown in 2008.
ArcelorMittal isn't restarting the mill due to an improving economic climate however, but rather because the No.1 blast furnace will be taken down for three months in April 2012 for scheduled maintenance. The No.1 blast furnace has a capacity of 3 million tons annually, and the No.2 blast furncase has a 1.2-million-tons-a-year steelmaking capacity.