On April 5, Japanese steelmaker Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. (Sumitomo Metals), a member of the diversified Sumitomo Corporation, announced the restart of plate mill rolling operations at its subsidiary Kashima Steelworks, which were suspended when Japan was hit by a massive earthquake on March 11.
Kashima Steelworks utilizes by-product gas of upstream processes such as blast furnaces and coke ovens as fuel for re-heating furnaces of hot rolling (HR) mills. Accordingly, the restart of upstream processes in late March has enabled Sumitomo Metals to restart its HR plate operation.
Kashima, an integrated steelworks, has restarted production of pig iron at its blast furnace, production of crude steel at its steelmaking plant, and production of finished products at its HR plate operation. Other HR mills at Kashima Steelworks, namely the hot strip mill and large shape mill, are also planning to restart production operations in the near future.
Meanwhile, Sumikin Recycling Co., Ltd., another subsidiary of Sumitomo Metals, restarted operations on March 23. As a result of the earthquake, while dust processing capacity nationwide has fallen, Sumikin Recycling will recycle the non-combustible materials that will be generated from the processing of the large amounts of debris left in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.