History
In 1964, de Wendel and Sidélor decided to jointly create, in the form of a cooperative, a 2.6 Mt/year pure oxygen steelworks. Then, in 1968, Sacilor, Sidélor, Union Sidérurgique Lorraine and Société Mosellane de Sidérurgie (or SMS) merged to form Wendel-Sidélor. The new group maintained its strategic orientation, preferring a high-capacity cast iron sector to the flexibility of electric steel mills.
Rombas blast furnaces with, in the top left corrner, the steel mill under contruction:
In 1994, Usinor decides to abandon production from cast iron, for an elaboration from scrap iron recycled in the electric arc furnace. A double-shaft DC electric furnace, which was very innovative (and too innovative, as further events would show), was started up at the same time as a new continuous casting of 155 mm billets. In the same year, the CC1 continuous caster at the Sérémange steelworks is converted to resume production of blooms for the Hayange rail rolling mill. This profitable production thus leaves Gandrange. Thus, the production capacity of the steelworks, which had been reduced to 2 million tonnes, fell again to 1.4 million tonnes, a target that will also never be reached. Installed in a notoriously oversized complex since "it was necessary to build an electric furnace in a cathedral", this electric steel plant (consisting of an electric melting furnace, two electric steel reheating furnaces and two continuous castings) still does not manage to make the steel plant profitable. As a consequence of the electric furnace start-up, the R7 blast furnace was shut down on 25 March 1998 and the R5 on 24 July. The dismantling of the blast furnaces was almost completed in 2002.
Demolition for the blast furnaces in 2002:
In 2008, the plant has still not returned to profit. Lakshmi Mittal has limited the workforce to a minimum and has not invested in the plant. It only made money in the first year, but then the scrap market took a long-term nosedive as a result of strong Chinese demand, making steel production in the electric furnace became expensive. Now that it is part of the Arcelor Mittal group, it is now possible to spread out employees and production to more competitive sites. The closure of the steel mill and the billet train is announced. It has been in the process of being dismantled since then, but the process is very long due to the gigantic nature of the structure, and the main building is still mainly untouched.
The steel mill in 2012, before the dismanteling started:
Exploration:
I went there several times in 2019/2020 and stayed all day each time, but this building is so massive that I still discover new things.
Offices and laboratory:
Control rooms:
Definitely one of my favourite places!
In 1964, de Wendel and Sidélor decided to jointly create, in the form of a cooperative, a 2.6 Mt/year pure oxygen steelworks. Then, in 1968, Sacilor, Sidélor, Union Sidérurgique Lorraine and Société Mosellane de Sidérurgie (or SMS) merged to form Wendel-Sidélor. The new group maintained its strategic orientation, preferring a high-capacity cast iron sector to the flexibility of electric steel mills.
Rombas blast furnaces with, in the top left corrner, the steel mill under contruction:
In 1994, Usinor decides to abandon production from cast iron, for an elaboration from scrap iron recycled in the electric arc furnace. A double-shaft DC electric furnace, which was very innovative (and too innovative, as further events would show), was started up at the same time as a new continuous casting of 155 mm billets. In the same year, the CC1 continuous caster at the Sérémange steelworks is converted to resume production of blooms for the Hayange rail rolling mill. This profitable production thus leaves Gandrange. Thus, the production capacity of the steelworks, which had been reduced to 2 million tonnes, fell again to 1.4 million tonnes, a target that will also never be reached. Installed in a notoriously oversized complex since "it was necessary to build an electric furnace in a cathedral", this electric steel plant (consisting of an electric melting furnace, two electric steel reheating furnaces and two continuous castings) still does not manage to make the steel plant profitable. As a consequence of the electric furnace start-up, the R7 blast furnace was shut down on 25 March 1998 and the R5 on 24 July. The dismantling of the blast furnaces was almost completed in 2002.
Demolition for the blast furnaces in 2002:
In 2008, the plant has still not returned to profit. Lakshmi Mittal has limited the workforce to a minimum and has not invested in the plant. It only made money in the first year, but then the scrap market took a long-term nosedive as a result of strong Chinese demand, making steel production in the electric furnace became expensive. Now that it is part of the Arcelor Mittal group, it is now possible to spread out employees and production to more competitive sites. The closure of the steel mill and the billet train is announced. It has been in the process of being dismantled since then, but the process is very long due to the gigantic nature of the structure, and the main building is still mainly untouched.
The steel mill in 2012, before the dismanteling started:
Exploration:
I went there several times in 2019/2020 and stayed all day each time, but this building is so massive that I still discover new things.
Offices and laboratory:
Control rooms:
Definitely one of my favourite places!
