U.S. Steel Corp. said Monday that it plans to permanently close steelmaking and finishing operations at its Fairfield, Ala. plant, a move that will impact 1,100 jobs.
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But the blast furnace and other operations at Fairfield Works will close around November 17.
The company temporarily restarted the blast furnace in June.In an earnings call last month, President and CEO Mario Longhi said it would idle it again in August.
Under this action, the blast furnace and associated steelmaking operations will be idled.
Most of the flat-rolled finishing operations will also be closed. The facilities that would permanently close include the blast furnace and steelmaking operations, the hot strip mill, the pickle line, cold mill, annealing facility and stretch and temper line.
The slab and rounds casters, the No. 5 coating line and the Double G hot-dip galvanizing joint venture in nearby Jackson, Miss., will remain in operation, according to the company.
An adjoining plant that employs about 700 people will continue making steel pipe, the company said, and construction of an electric arc furnace will continue on the property.
Located just west of Alabama’s largest city, Fairfield Works is a major part of Birmingham’s past as a steel-producing city, the so-called “Pittsburgh of the South”.
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The proposal came after market analysis of the company’s current and long-term global operational footprint competitiveness.
