Explosion at AcelorMittal mill in Argentina leads to strike

Acindar Grupo ArcelorMittal plant Villa Constitucion Steel Mill, in Santa Fe province, Argentina, suffered an incident at 10 am, on February 5, 2008. An explosion occurred during a maintenance shutdown at the plant. Maintenance was being carried out at the mill with water cooling and in the refractory exchange of the furnace number 4. The explosion occurred due to pressure accumulation under the plate where they were performing routine maintenance work. The Internal Affairs Manager confirmed that Villa Constitucion Steel Mill is the safest plant of its kind and has very restricted internal procedures, which apply to established international standards. Four hours after the incident, metallurgists began a strike stating that the company required employees to start working on the furnace repair instead of waiting the 24 hours stated on the safety protocol.

Acindar Grupo ArcelorMittal is the biggest steel producer in Argentina with international presence. Founded in 1942, the company has more than 200 products for civil construction, industries, oil, energy, automotive, iron markets.

On February 1, 2008, ArcelorMittal group confirmed an offer to acquire the remaining shares of steel company Acindar Industria Argentina (Buenos Aires, Argentina) for the amount of $552 million. See related October 5, 2007, article - ArcelorMittal Announces Plan to Bid for Remaining Acindar Shares. The acquisition will be concluded by mid February. ArcelorMittal through ArcelorMittal Brasil S.A. already owns 64.5% of Acindar. With this purchase the company will have 99.5 percent of Acindar social capital. Acindar S.A has changed its name for Acindar Grupo ArcelorMittal.

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