ArcelorMittal to Shut Down All Blast Furnaces at Ilva Steelworks

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): ArcelorMittal (AM) Italia announced its decision to shut down all blast furnaces at the former Ilva Steelworks in Taranto by mid-January next year, thereby bringing all production at the site to an end. Further, it denied media reports that it will continue to remain as the site’s operator until May next year.

Last week, the company had informed the Italian government that it plans to pullout of its agreement on operating Ilva. The decision followed the removal of legal protection from prosecution offered to the company and its managers during the cleanup process.

Lucia Morselli, CEO, AM Italia informed union representatives about the blast furnace shutdown plan. Accordingly, Blast Furnace 2 will be idled on 12th December, whereas Blast Furnace 4 will stop operating on 30^th December. Also, Blast Furnace 1 will stop operations on 15^th January, 2020. It must be noted that BF3 and BF5 are not currently operational. In addition, the company plans to close the Strip Mill 2 towards end-November this year.

ALSO READ: ArcelorMittal Plans Massive Layoffs at Italian Steel Plant

According to company spokesperson, it has already started the process of idling the blast furnaces and that the whole process is expected to take approximately 2 months.