May 31, 2006 — Mittal Steel USA has fully restored its steelmaking operations at the No. 3 basic oxygen shop at its Indiana Harbor plant in East Chicago, Ind. Fully automated operation of both furnace vessels was achieved on May 28, one month after the fire that severely damaged this facility.

The No. 3 steel production shop had been idled April 28 when a ladle descended unexpectedly and dumped more than 200 tons of molten iron to the shop floor. No one was seriously hurt in the incident.

“I would like to thank our customers for working with us to minimize the impact of the fire,” said Louis L. Schorsch, President and CEO. “Through the outstanding efforts of our employees at Indiana Harbor — as well as at other facilities that stepped up to help compensate for the loss in production capability — we have been able to restore full production much more effectively than originally expected. Our sister operations outside the USA also pitched in, confirming the value of our being part of the world's first truly global steel company.”

Although initial estimates were that the shop would lose 300,000 tons of steel production, Schorsch said the rapid recovery and the coordination of other operations throughout the company have trimmed the total loss to less than 200,000 tons.

“Due to the commitment and efforts of the entire Indiana Harbor team, we commenced single-vessel operation on a manual basis on May 12,” Schorsch commented, “and commissioned the new control room on May 24. This certainly exceeded our initial projections.”

The company expects the damage and losses associated with business disruption to be covered by insurance. Management and the United Steelworkers continue to investigate the fire.

Mittal Steel USA and its affiliates serve a broad U.S. manufacturing base. The company was formed in April 2005 and consists of the former Ispat Inland Inc. and the former International Steel Group. It has operations in 12 states of the United States.

Mittal Steel Co. has operations in 16 countries, on four continents. Mittal Steel encompasses all aspects of modern steelmaking, to produce a comprehensive portfolio of both flat and long steel products to meet a wide range of customer needs. It serves all the major steel consuming sectors, including automotive, appliance, machinery and construction. For 2005, Mittal Steel had revenues of US $28.1 billion and steel shipments of 49.2 million tons.