United States Steel Corp. employees joined United Steelworkers leadership, key partners and elected officials to celebrate the company’s investment in a pig-iron caster at its Gary Works facility in Gary, Ind. The installation of the pig-iron caster is a key part of U.S. Steel’s metallics strategy. The machine will be fed with iron ore from the company’s Minnesota Ore Operations, Minntac and Keetac. The produced pig iron is expected to supply up to 50% of the ore-based metallics needs for Big River Steel in Arkansas. Pre-construction for the caster began in the first quarter of 2022, and start-up is expected in early 2023. The $60 million investment will add approximately 25 new jobs to the facility.

Stelco Holdings Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Stelco Inc., successfully commissioned a new pig-iron caster at its Lake Erie Works facility. It has the capability of casting up to 1 million tons of pig iron per year. The addition of the pig-iron caster will allow the company to fully capitalize on increased capacity resulting from its recently completed blast-furnace upgrade project. With the expansion of EAF production in North America, the demand for iron units is placing increased pressure on the existing supply of scrap steel, making pig iron a highly valued commodity in the production of EAF steel.