US Steel to build pig iron caster in Indiana

Integrated steelmaker US Steel will build a pig iron caster at its Indiana steel mill to supplant imports to its scrap-based mill in Arkansas.

US Steel will build a 500,000 short tons (st)/yr pig iron caster at its Gary Works steel mill complex, which has four blast furnaces with a total raw steel capacity of 7.5mn st/yr.

The investment will cost $60mn with construction beginning in the first half of 2022 and completing in the first half of 2023.

The pig iron caster, when operational, will be able to supply nearly half of the ore-based metallics required for US Steel's 3.3mn st/yr electric arc furnace (EAF) at the Big River Steel mill in northeast Arkansas.

US Steel is also building a new 3mn st/yr EAF flat-rolled steel mill next to the Big River Steel facility, which will go online in 2024.

The US steel industry has suddenly been faced with potential pig iron shortages after Russia invaded neighbor Ukraine, choking off exports from both countries as the EU and US impose economic sanctions against the Russian economy. Russia and Ukraine account for more than 60pc of the pig iron imported into the US.

The company said the investment adds value to the Gary Works mill by increasing blast furnace efficiency without a reduction in the site's raw steel production, indicating that the pig iron caster will allow US Steel to keep its remaining blast furnaces online rather than idling them.

Competitor Cleveland-Cliffs announced on 21 February that it was idling a 2.1mn st/yr blast furnace at its Indiana Harbor integrated steel mill due to efficiencies from using hot briquetted iron (HBI) and prime scrap to stretch hot metal production, requiring fewer blast furnaces to produce similar amounts of steel.

By Rye Druzin