The idled production lines will result in US Steel laying off 500 union and 90 management employees, nearly half of all employees at Minntac. Minntac is US Steel's largest iron ore mining operation.
US Steel attributes its decision to idle two additional production lines and cut employees to a drastic reduction in orders. The company says that the layoffs are temporary, though it has no time frame as to when the workers will be called back. The layoffs will be enacted over the next two to three weeks.
Minntac consists of five production lines, three of which will now be idled. At full production, Minntac's five lines produce an estimated total of 16.5 million tons of taconite per year. In addition to the cutbacks at Minntac, US Steel also idled its smaller taconite plant in Minnesota, Keetac, in early December. The Keetac plant produced an estimated 6 million tons of taconite annually.