According to local media reports, US Steel will restart the hot dipped galvanizing (HDG) line at its Hamilton, Ontario flats-rolled steel mill in May. Various technicians, including mechanics and electricians, have already returned to work to prepare the facility. The HDG line has been idle since the spring of 2009, when US Steel shut down the Hamilton mill entirely. Increasing demand for some of US Steel's HDG end use markets such as construction and appliances sparked the decision to restart the line.
The Hamilton mill's blast furnace remains shuttered, however, and only parts of the facility are operating, including the coke oven battery, which produces material used in US Steel's US operations, and some finishing operations--the cold mill and Z line.