ArcelorMittal has idled its Blast Furnace D (BF D) after an explosion at its Burns Harbor steel plant in Indiana on Thursday.
In a statement shared with Davis Index, an ArcelorMittal spokesperson confirmed there were no injuries and the blast furnace was safely taken offline.
ArcelorMittal said that the explosion, which led to the fire was caused by a stove dome failure but the fire was brought under control by the Burns Harbor fire department along with the plant’s personnel.
Moreover, the idling of the blast furnace is not likely to impact production and the company remains confident about meeting customer demand despite the incident, the spokesperson told Davis Index. The company is currently creating a timeline for repairs to BF D and by when it could go online again.
In April, ArcelorMittal had idled its Blast Furnace C at the plant citing weak demand due to COVID-19 related shutdowns. Demand for steel has remained muted despite a surge in manufacturing in the US in June after lockdown at various steelmaking and automotive manufacturing facilities lifted in the early part of June.
In fact, US domestic ferrous scrap trading concluded last week with price drops of $20-40/gt on prime grades and $0-20/gt on shredded and cut grades from a month earlier as mill demand continued to lag scrap supply.