Weirton faces a possible closure of some operations

Weirton faces a possible closure of some operations

According to reports from the industry, Weirton Steel Corp., one of the major integrated steel mills in US, may be compelled by its current coke shortage problem to close some of its blast furnaces temporarily or axe jobs additional to the previous ones. This possibility, originally, derived from the fire at the Pinnacle mine at West Virginia, the major coal supplier of US Steel (USS). As the Pinnacle mine hold up its operations due to the fire, USS had to lower coke shipments and this unavoidably affected Weirton Steel which procures coke from the company in order to fuel its blast furnaces. Weirton Steel, which is under bankruptcy protection since May 2003, stated that no certain decision has been taken yet.