Acciaierie d’Italia, the new joint venture between the Italian government’s Invitalia investment vehicle and ArcelorMittal, announced it will restart one of its blast furnaces in June, according to local media reports on April 28.
Of the five installed blast furnaces at the Taranto steelworks, Acciaierie d’Italia has only been operating two blast furnaces (#1 and #2) since #4 was idled for refurbishment work, according to local trade unions.
Acciaierie d’Italia blast furnace #1, #2 and #4 each have a designed capacity of 1.8-2.0mn mt per annum each, while #3 is scheduled to be dismantled and #5 the largest since in Europe at 3.5mn mt per annum has been idled since 2015.
Meanwhile, trade union USB demanded an investigation following a fire that occurred on the continuous casting line at steel plant #2 on April 5 which risked the lives of its members due to a procedural failure in the replacement of an ingot mould.
According to USB claims, Acciaierie d’Italia suspended an employee a few days after the incident which also resulted in the closure of the steel plant and layoffs from the respective division.