Hunedoara steel works
.jpg) |
|
| Built | June 1884 |
|---|---|
| Location | Hunedoara, Romania |
| Industry | Steel |
The Hunedoara steel works, formally ArcelorMittal Hunedoara and formerly the Hunedoara Ironworks (Romanian: Uzinele de Fier Hunedoara), Hunedoara Steel Works (Combinatul Siderurgic Hunedoara), Siderurgica Hunedoara and Mittal Steel, is a steel mill in the Transylvanian city of Hunedoara, Romania.
Several factors led to the establishment of the works, which were located in an area that was then part of Austria-Hungary: late 19th-century technological development that resulted in increased steel production through new techniques, spurred by the serious need of metal for the Austro-Hungarian Army; the aged and unprofitable methods used by the area's iron workshops; the building of a railroad; and the enlargement of the market due to increased metal consumption in Transylvania's mechanical plants. Building started in August 1882, with two blast furnaces 14.40 m high and 110 m3 in volume. The third furnace, with a capacity of 40–50 tons per day, started to be built in 1884; the fourth was started in 1885 and could produce 10–150 tons a day; and the fifth, which could generate 80–150 tons a day, in 1903. The first three burned charcoal, while the last two ran on coke.
Iron ore was extracted from the mine near the Ghelari plant some 16 km away, and was brought there on a ropeway conveyor built at the same time as the first furnace. Increased production of cast iron had led to a greater demand for iron ore, which in turn caused intense extraction of deep deposits in the Poiana Ruscă Mountains. Industrial-scale quarrying began at Ghelari in 1863, followed by shaft mining from 1881. As the ropeway conveyor could no longer handle a significantly enlarged capacity, the 16-km Ghelari-Hunedoara narrow gauge railway was built between 1890 and 1900. Also in the same area were built the 18-km Govăjdia-Bătrâna River funicular for charcoal transport and the 14-km Govăjdia-Bunila one for bringing charcoal and limestone. The latter was also supplied from local quarries and carried in by harnessed pack animals.
...
Wikipedia