British steel company Liberty Steel, part of the GFG Alliance industrial group, has announced the return to duty of a blast furnace at the Liberty Ostrava iron and steel plant in the Czech Republic.
The blast furnace was shut down in mid-April this year due to a drop in demand for steel products due to the coronavirus epidemic and quarantine. According to the company's management, the market environment has improved so far.
During the downtime, the furnace was upgraded for a total cost of approximately $2 million. The furnace, which was built in 1952, now has a capacity of 3.2 thousand tons of cast iron per day.
In addition, Liberty has confirmed its interest in acquiring Port Talbot, a British steel mill, from the Indian group Tata Steel, which has tried to obtain government aid to support the company, but has not made any progress yet.