Bloomberg reported that US Steel Corp is preparing to restart one of two Canadian blast furnaces shut in March because of a drop in demand.

The report cited Mr Rolf Gerstenberger president of United Steelworkers local 1005 as saying that “They’re heating up the furnace, and normally the next step is to add iron ore and coke, which is the point of no return.”

Ms Erin DiPietro a spokeswoman for US Steel said that US Steel doesn’t provide updates on its operations but “We are continuing to adjust production across our facilities to stay in line with customer demand.”

Workers at the Hamilton, Ontario, facility, which can produce about 2 million tonnes of steel annually, have been on site since mid July. Operations remain shut at the company’s Nanticoke, Ontario, plant, which can produce about 2.4 million tonnes a year.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)