US Steel stays on track for Alabama EAF mill

Despite several recent capacity cuts and financial losses, U.S. Steel Corp. has told an Alabama newspaper that it is going ahead with plans to bring an electric arc furnace (EAF) steel production center online near Birmingham, Alabama.

An online report by the Birmingham Business Journal says Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel is committed to starting up the EAF line at its Fairfield Works compound by the second half of 2016.

The new EAF will replace a blast furnace that is being retired. The use of EAF technology is likely to increase the Fairfield compound’s purchases of ferrous scrap.

The switch to less labor-intensive EAF technology is in sync with U.S. Steel’s “Carnegie Way” initiative, according to the report, since that initiative is intended to reduce operating costs and contribute to profitability.

The Fairfield Works in Alabama is currently one of six integrated steelmaking complexes operated by U.S. Steel in the United States, along with the Gary Works (which is made up of Gary Works in Gary, Indiana; East Chicago Tin in East Chicago, Indiana; and the Midwest Plant in Portage, Indiana); Great Lakes Works in Ecorse and River Rouge, Michigan; Mon Valley Works, near Pittsburgh; the Fairless Plant near Philadelphia; and Granite City Works in Granite City, Illinois. The company also operates an integrated steelmaking complex in the Slovak Republic.