U.S. Steel announces strategic actions to cut capital investments

United States Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, has announced it will not pursue an expansion of its iron ore pellet operations at Keetac in Keewatin, Minn. The expansion would have increased the facility's production by 3.6 million tons annually to a total of 9.6 million tons, and included upgrading and restarting an idled pelletizing line, as well as upgrading the mining, concentrating, and agglomerating processes at Keetac. The permits required for this expansion expire this month and will not be renewed.

The company also has decided not to proceed with additional investments into the carbon alloy facilities at Gary Works. This project, which began in 2011, contemplated the construction of two modules to provide a carbon alloy material used to replace traditionally manufactured coke to the Gary Works blast furnaces. One module, C module, has been built and will be permanently idled while a second, D module, will not be constructed.

The estimated capital investment that would have been required to complete these projects was more than $800 million.

According to President and CEO Mario Longhi, “These strategic decisions allow us to redirect funding to projects to further develop advanced high-strength steels for our automotive customers, premium connections for our energy market customers, and capital expenditures to update and modernize our operations.”