Global steelmaker ArcelorMittal will temporarily shut down the blast furnace at its 6.5mn metric tonne (t)/yr steel mill in Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico after a series of power cuts last week damaged adjacent equipment.
Power cuts week caused "critical" failures in the blast furnace's boilers, leading to the maintenance outage. The blast furnace has a 2.5mn t/yr capacity — nearly 40pc of the complex's nominal capacity — and source of its long steel production.
Lazaro Cardenas in the second quarter faced issues with an on-site transformer, which impacted electric arc furnace (EAF) production in the quarter and directly resulted in $40mn of losses in the quarter, chief financial office Genuino Christino said in an earnings call today. Power to the EAF has been restored.
The stoppage comes nine months after Lazaro Cardenas' long steel production came back online after a five-month labor dispute with the Sindicato Minero union, which represents workers at the plant.
The company did not publicly give a timeline for the resumption of operations, with Christino estimating a duration of "a couple of months."
