Hamilton, Ontario-based Stelco Holdings Inc. provided further details on its Lake Erie Works blast furnace upgrade and reline project.
Stelco continues to proceed with its comprehensive blast furnace upgrade and reline project at its Lake Erie Works facility in Nanticoke, Ontario, creating what the company says will be the first smart blast furnace of its kind in North America. The upgrade project is currently on-budget and on-schedule, with hot metal production expected early in October 2020.
The blast furnace upgrade and reline project is the first one in the history of Lake Erie Works and will enable Stelco to efficiently operate its technologically advanced blast furnace for the next three to four decades, the company said. It is expected that these upgrades will result in improved quality, increased hot metal production of up to 300,000 net tons per annum, and a corresponding $30 per net ton reduction in costs to produce steel coils.
"We are pleased with the extremely hard work of our employees and contractors on this once in a generation project that we have undertaken in the middle of the global pandemic to create a best-in-class blast furnace at our Lake Erie Works facility," commented Alan Kestenbaum, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Stelco Holdings.