U. S. Steel Fairfield Works, Alabama

U.S. Steel’s Fairfield Works is the largest producer of new raw steel in the southeastern United States. It uses iron ore, taconite pellets, scrap metal, limestone, and coke to make two million tons of steel a year. Fairfield has the largest blast furnace in the southern U.S., making 6,000 tons of molten iron daily. The plant uses a continuous slab caster and continuous rounds caster to make sheet steel and seamless pipe. U.S. Steel bought the plant from Tennessee Coal and Iron in 1907. It is one of six integrated steel mills still operated by U.S. Steel, the last of the big Old American Steel companies. Around 1,000 people work at the plant. In 2015, a decision was made to shut down Fairfield's blast furnace in response to depressed steel prices, at a cost of $90 million. There are plans to replace it with an electric arc furnace, should market conditions improve.