Mittal Steel USA, a subsidiary of Mittal Steel Co. (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), has announced the permanent closure of its blast furnace melt shop at the Weirton Steel mill in West Virginia due to a lower demand for tin sheet. The mill had not been producing steel since a temporary shutdown in May 2005.
Mittal will continue operating its hot rolling mill, with steel slabs from its Cleveland and Sparrow's Point mills.The Mittal shutdown will reduce the number of operating integrated steel mills in the U.S. from 17 to 16.In the summer of 2005, Mittal had a layoff of about 800 employees from the original 2,000. The job layoff involved employees associated with the hot end operations. An additional loss of 150 jobs, from the support group and staff, are expected this year.The Weirton steel mill has been in operation since 1909.