December start-up for U.S. Steel's Gary blast furnace

United States Steel Corp. reported today that, based upon the updated rebuild schedule for the No. 14 blast furnace at Gary Works, the furnace is expected to be available for start-up in early December. Following prescribed start-up procedures after such a major rebuild, the furnace should be capable of achieving its expected production rate of 9,200 tons per day in January 2006. The furnace section that was involved in the incident reported earlier this month is being repaired and is expected to be put in place within the next week.