Business & Tech

After Setback Sparrows Point's L-Furnace Restarted; Steelmaking to Resume

Shutdown for months prior to the sale to RG Steel, Sparrows Point steelmaking operations were setback when the "L" blast furnace was shuttered two weeks ago. Two contractors were also injured in an accident in mid-May.

Operations at Sparrows Point suffered two unrelated setbacks in mid-May, but RG Steel says the mill is ready to resume steelmaking this week with the restart of the "L" blast furnace.

Idle since the summer, the "L" blast furnace and primary operations at Sparrows Point were initially restarted May 8 after the sale of the historic mill from Severstal to RG Steel. Since mid-May, however, the "L" blast has been out-of-service, RG Steel spokeswoman Bette Kovach said, because of “balancing” issues. She said Thursday “the process required the clearing of some material that had accumulated in the furnace.”

With the "L blast furnace down, continuous casting and hot strip mill operations were also temporarily halted. Kovach said those are expected to restart this week. She did not believe anyone was temporarily laid off because of the shutdown  of the "L" blast furnace.

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She said the shutdown would not affect shipments to customers, and that steel already in the pipeline would meet immediate customer orders.

Kovach also confirmed the two contractors were burned in an accident in mid-May.

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She said the accident was unrelated to problems requiring the shutdown of the “L” blast furnace. One of the injured workers was taken to Bayview Medical Center. Kovach said she did not have an update on his condition. The injured contractors, Kovach said, worked for AS & L Industrial Services in Dundalk.


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