Steel Mills
ArcelorMittal to Idle Hibbing Taconite
Written by Sandy Williams
April 22, 2020
Another iron mine is temporarily idling production. ArcelorMittal said on Tuesday that it will idle Hibbing Taconite on May 3 with plans to resume operations on July 6.
“Due to the unprecedented and challenging times presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the joint venture partners of Hibbing Taconite will be idling the operation,” said ArcelorMittal in a statement. “As a result, Hibbing Taconite has begun preparations to reduce production in a safe and orderly manner with necessary precaution to preserve the asset for future production.”
Hibbing Taconite is a joint venture between ArcelorMittal, Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel with ArcelorMittal serving as managing partner as of August 2019. Pellets from the plant are shipped to ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, which last week idled its C blast furnace.
In the past week, Cleveland-Cliffs has idled Northshore Mining and U.S. Steel announced the idling of Keetac.
About 650 employees are expected to be laid off at the facility including hourly and salaried workers. “As managing partner of Hibbing Taconite, ArcelorMittal USA plans to work with the USW to minimize the impact on the workforce for the duration of the outage,” said a spokesperson for the company.
Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Mills
AHMSA opens doors to potential buyers as $1.3B asset auction nears
AHMSA is opening its doors to potential buyers to tour its steel plant and mining operations in northern Mexico in preparation for the next stage of its bankruptcy process: the auction of its assets.
USW seeks clarity on USS plans for Granite City Works
The United Steelworkers union has asked U.S. Steel to elaborate on its Granite City Works plans following reports that the steelmaker is ending processing at the facility.
Nucor maintains plate prices, opens October order book
Nucor aims to keep plate prices flat for a seventh straight month with the opening of its October order book.
ArcelorMittal Mexico to import from sister mills as it works to resume DRI production
ArcelorMittal has partially restarted operations at its direct reduction plant in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan. An explosion on Aug. 18 rocked the massive steelworks on Mexico’s Pacific coast, impacting production of direct-reduced iron (DRI).
Fall maintenance outages are coming in hot
Labor Day has passed, the sun is starting to set a little earlier each day, and cooler weather has begun to find its way down to many of us across North America. And you know what that means for the steel industry… Fall maintenance outages!