US Steel to idle Minnesota iron ore project

OREANDA-NEWS. US Steel plans to temporarily idle its Keetac taconite iron ore project in Minnesota starting 13 May as part of its efforts to trim steelmaking operations to match customer demand in the oversupplied steel and ore markets.

The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said today that 412 employees at the 6mn short ton/yr (5.4mn metric tonne/yr) Keetac operation have been advised of the planned temporary idling. The plant is in the Mesabi Iron Range of northern Minnesota.

The nearby 16mn st/yr capacity Minntac project and plant will continue to produce iron ore pellets.

"These ongoing operational adjustments are a result of challenging market conditions that reflect the cyclical nature of the industry," US Steel said. "Global influences in the market, including a high level of imports, unfairly traded products and reduced steel prices, continue to have an impact."

Finished steel imports into the US accounted for 33pc of the market in the first two months of the year, according to American Iron and Steel Institute analysis of government permit applications.

And export prices have plunged in the last two years. The price of the industry standard seaborne 62pc Fe iron ore fines imported into China assessed by Argus is below \$57/t today, compared with nearly \$140/t in August 2013.

The Keetac temporary idling is the latest in a string of announcements by US Steel aimed at trimming steelmaking operations. The company said on 27 February that it plans to close its coke-making plant at its Gary Works steel mill in Indiana on 27 May, affecting about 300 workers. And it said on 27 January that it would curb operations at tubular plants in Texas and Alabama, as well as at a flat-rolled plant in Alabama, affecting as many as 1,918 unionized employees.

It also said in late January it planned to idle the blast furnace at its Fairfield Works, in Alabama, "until order rates recover."