The steel company ArcelorMittal is inclined to repair the blast furnace damaged at its Veriña (Gijón) factory on the 22nd if it is evident that the facility, once the crucible perforated by the explosion has been restored, could restart production under safe conditions. And this extreme is subject to the conclusions of the technical report that will be carried out both on the state of the plant after the fire and on the causes that led to the detonation. The first conjectures point to water leaks in the crucible from the cooling system. In any case, the report is going to take a little longer and now we are working with the expectation that it may be completed by the end of next week.
Meanwhile, the option of importing steel slabs from group factories in other countries is still being evaluated to compensate for the drop in production at the Tabaza (Corvera) steelworks, which has had to stop one of its two converters and one of its two continuous casting machines due to the drop in pig iron it receives from the Gijón factory, once it It has only one blast furnace available, from which it must feed both the Gijón steelworks, which feeds the long products division, and the Avilés one, which supplies the flats area, on which other factories in Sagunto, Etxebarri, Lesaka and Legasa.
The government’s decision
Meanwhile, the partial decarbonisation plan for the Gijón factory, with a committed investment of more than 1,000 millioncontinues to progress in its processing pending the approval, which is expected imminent -perhaps today-, of the Government decree that will release the concession of public aid that, for an amount of 460 million, were agreed in 2021 between the Spanish executive and the company, and which were already authorized by the European Commission on February 17.
One of the key installations for the investment, the future hybrid electric furnace that will replace the current Gijón steelworks, has passed all the environmental procedures. The BOPA published yesterday the resolution by which resolves favorably the substantial modification of the integrated environmental authorization of the industrial complex of the Gijón factory to incorporate the new electric arc furnace. With a little more delay, the processing of the future direct reduction iron ore (DRI) furnace is progressing, which will replace the current blast furnace A.
CC OO in Veriña calls strikes to unblock the framework agreement
The first assemblies of CC OO affiliates, which this union held yesterday at the ArcelorMittal factory in Veriña (Gijón), supported by a very large majority the call for a 24-hour strike on the 24th and another for the afternoon and night shifts of 28 as a measure of pressure to unblock the negotiation of the framework agreement. 16-hour strikes are also planned in May pending definition, among other options. In the assembly, the force majeure ERTE promoted by the company was reported after the fire at the blast furnace A. CC OO will hold other assemblies in Avilés today. CC OO offers to agree on the calendar with other unions