A train carrying molten iron passes in front of Blast Furnace No. 7 at the Indiana Harbor steel mill in East Chicago. Times of Northwest Indiana staff file photo
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Cleveland-Cliffs plans to indefinitely idle Blast Furnace No. 4 at the Indiana Harbor steel mill, the second blast furnace in East Chicago to be taken offline in the last three years in a major blow to integrated steelmaking in the Calumet Region.
The Cleveland-based steelmaker said no jobs will be lost as workers will be transferred to other positions at the sprawling mill along the Lake Michigan lakefront. The dwindling amount of steelmaking capacity along the Lake Michigan lakefront will, however, have long-term effects on employment opportunities at the Region's steel mills.
Indiana Harbor had still operated five blast furnaces a little over a decade ago.
Cleveland-Cliffs announced it would raise steel prices as it took the steelmaking capacity offline, reducing the overall supply on the market at a time of strong demand. It plans to increase the price of carbon hot rolled, cold rolled and coated steel products by at least $50 per ton.
The flat-rolled steelmaker plans to idle Indiana Harbor Blast Furnace No. 4 because of operational improvements that include adding hot-briquetted iron to the blast furnaces and maximizing the use of scrap in basic oxygen furnaces.
All the employees will be transferred to other positions at Cleveland Cliffs Indiana Harbor Works, which combines the former LTV and Inland steel mills that were consolidated under previous ownership. The company said it currently has more available job openings at Indiana Harbor in East Chicago than it had workers at the blast furnace, which forged raw materials into iron, the precursor for the steel that goes into cars, appliances and buildings nationwide.
Cleveland-Cliffs expects the closure will reduce its carbon emissions as integrated steelmaking is a carbon-intensive process that involves burning coke, a form of coal that's been stripped of impurities.
"Our strategy of increasing productivity at our ironmaking and steelmaking facilities through the use of both in-house produced HBI and additional scrap has allowed us to reduce coke rate and consequently reduce CO2 emissions, as well as to stretch hot metal utilization and still be able to produce similar amounts of crude steel with fewer blast furnaces," Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said. "Said another way, by concentrating the operation and maximizing productivity at IH No. 7 we are improving our carbon footprint and, at the same time, lowering our cost structure for the same level of steel production and shipments. Most importantly, as we have enough job openings on site for all impacted employees, we are now able to fill several available job openings at Indiana Harbor Works with the current workforce of IH No. 4.”
Cleveland-Cliffs said normal operations will continue at the Indiana Harbor steel mill and the Riverdale Works mill it supplies just across the state line. Indiana Harbor Works still has two steel shops, the hot strip mill and finishing facilities.
Once the largest steelmaker complex in the world, the mill in East Chicago is down to just a single blast furnace. Indiana Harbor Blast Furnace #7 will now supply all operations at the steel mill in East Chicago and Riverdale Works in Riverdale, Illinois.=\
Indiana Harbor Blast Furnace No. 4 at the sprawling 3,100-acre Indiana Harbor campus had an annual capacity of 2.1 million tons per year. Its indefinite idling will reduce Cleveland-Cliffs' total portfolio of blast furnaces from 8 to 7.
Previous mill operator ArcelorMittal indefinitely idled Blast Furnace No. 3 at the former LTV steel mill in East Chicago's lakefront Indiana Harbor neighborhood in 2019 instead of undertaking the major expense of relining it. ArcelorMittal said it reached the end of its current campaign and that it was unwilling to make the significant capital investment needed for continued operation.
Blast Furnace No. 4 was the last left standing at the Indiana Harbor West mill that previously belonged to Youngstown Sheet and Tube, J&L, LTV Steel and ISG before being bought by ArcelorMittal in the early 2000s and Cleveland-Cliffs in 2020.
Cleveland-Cliffs said the idling will not affect its expected production level this year. The blast furnace should cease production in the next few months.
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