GARY — The new pig caster building built at Gary Works should make the steel mill more sustainable over the long term, officials said.
Last week, U.S. Steel heralded its $60 million investment in a new pig machine that will supply 500,000 tons a year of pig iron to its mini mills, diversifying the product mix at Gary Works. Pig iron is solidified iron usually shaped like a brick that's made by casting hot metal from a blast furnace into a mold.
Gary Works will send it via rail and barge down to the new Big River Steel mini mill in Arkansas. The new pig machine will add 25 more full-time jobs to the sprawling steel mill that employs 4,000 steelworkers on the South Shore of Lake Michigan.
"I'm a third-generation steelworker. My family started here in 1917," United Steelworkers Local 1014 President Gus Atsas said. "I've been around. I've seen the good. I've seen the bad. I've seen the ugly. We're headed in the right direction."
Gary Works will now supply about half the metallics needed to run U.S. Steel's new mini mills.
"At Gary Primary, we know the future of this plant depends upon our success," Atsas said. "Our families, the union and management depend on us. Our communities depend on us and this facility. It's been here a long time. Every steelworker affects seven to 10 in the community. We buy houses. We buy cars. We pay taxes. If we fail, the whole community fails. And we don't fail."
The steel mill at 1 N. Broadway in Gary will be able to supply its sister plants and extends the life of its blast furnaces.
"Our efficiency goes up, our quality goes up," he said. "We extend our blast furnace life, which is huge."
The hope is to have it online by January 2023.
"We will succeed. We will not fail," Atsas said. "I would like to thank all who made the decision to put the pig machine in Gary and trusting us, management and steelworkers. We won't fail. We can't fail. Or it all fails."
The aim is integration and self-sufficiency, U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt said.
"This helps us exploit a competitive advantage," he said. "As long as there's fair trade, we can compete with anybody. Having a facility in a place like this where we're growing and adding jobs and making a difference, I couldn't be more pumped up about the future."
U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland, said U.S. Steel and Gary Works would benefit from diversification.
"We have to understand the value of shortening the supply chains," he said. "When you shorten the supply chains and you protect the steel industry in the United States of America, you protect hundreds of thousands of jobs in the industry and in downstream industries that are here every single day. United States Steel is investing in this facility to transform its mission, to make sure it is environmentally safe, to make sure it is utilizing all resources for the end result of productivity, efficient productivity that produces steel as a matter of economic security. Our workforce is working every day so we're not dependent on other nations."
The steel industry remains vital to the Region, Mrvan said.
"It advances the steel industry, the city of Gary, Main Street, Broadway Cafe, small businesses, the investment in Gary, Indiana," he said. "It all comes together. It's not about the dollar figure. It's about the belief and confidence in this industry, in our community and what we are going to do in the future not just in the steel industry but to make sure we utilize the best workforce in the world, the American domestic manufacturing workforce."
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