US Steel to idle Keetac iron ore operations in Minnesota

US Steel said Thursday it will indefinitely idle its Keetac iron ore operations in Minnesota as it adjusts production levels amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"Following operational adjustments announced on March 27, after further study of current demand, we must make additional adjustments to our raw materials production and indefinitely idle our Keetac facility to respond to the sudden and dramatic decline in business conditions resulting from the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic," US Steel said in a statement.

US Steel has idled multiple blast furnaces in recent weeks amid the ongoing pandemic. In late March, the company said it would immediately idle blast furnace #4 at its Gary Works and later announced the idling of #8 furnace at the facility. It also temporarily idled the A blast furnace at its Granite City Works outside of St. Louis and announced an indefinite idling of its Lone Star, Texas, and Lorain, Ohio, tubular mills amid challenging market conditions in the oil and gas industry.

US Steel said it has issued Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices for all potentially impacted employees at Keetac.

"In the near term, we expect this to impact approximately 75 employees with three years of service or less," US Steel said. "Over the next month, the temporary layoffs are expected to affect a total of approximately 375 employees. This includes both represented and non-represented employees."

Keetac can produce about 6 million net st of iron ore pellets each year, according to the company's website.