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Mittal to Restructure Weirton Plant Around Tinplate Operations

12/01/2005 - Mittal Steel USA announced to employees at its Weirton, W.Va., facility that it does not plan to restart the plant's ironmaking and steelmaking operations.

Mittal Steel USA announced to employees at its Weirton, W.Va., facility that it does not plan to restart the plant's ironmaking and steelmaking operations.

"This was a very difficult decision, since the Independent Steelworkers Union and all employees have worked so hard to beat the odds trying to maintain steelmaking at Weirton. However, the structural disadvantages of Weirton for these processes entail costs that are too high to support competitive downstream facilities."

"Mittal Steel is the world's largest tinplate manufacturer, and we make ourselves even more competitive in that important market by reconfiguring this plant around its tinplate facilities. Weirton has a long-standing reputation as a global leader for this product, and our goal is to strengthen that position."

Louis L. Schorsch,
CEO of Mittal Steel USA

These facilities have been idled since June and are supported by about 800 employees. The company will continue to supply Weirton's finishing facilities with lower-cost material from its other plants, enabling it to strengthen its position in those markets, particularly tinplate.

Working with the Weirton team, the company continues to evaluate how to further reconfigure the Weirton operations to enhance its competitiveness in its core tinplate operations.

"The company recognizes that we are more cost-competitive using material from other Mittal Steel USA plants to make tinplate than we are using slabs from our primary end,” noted Brian James, General Manager of Mittal Steel USA–Weirton. “We are now focusing on enhancing the competitiveness of our finishing operations and becoming one of the world's premier tin facilities."

Mittal Steel USA is North America's largest steelmaker and serves a broad U.S. manufacturing base. The company was formed in April 2005 and consists of Ispat Inland Inc. and Mittal Steel USA ISG Inc., formerly International Steel Group. It has operations in 12 states of the United States.

Mittal Steel Co. NV is the world's largest and most global steel company. The company has operations in 15 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 2004, Mittal Steel had revenues of US$22.2 billion and steel shipments of 42.1 million tons.