International Steel Group Inc. will restart a second blast furnace at the Weirton, W.Va., facility, in response to strong customer demand for its value-added, coated steel products.

ISG will invest about $2.5 million in repairs to ISG Weirton's Number Four blast furnace and upgrades to the plant's continuous slab caster. The blast furnace is expected to begin operation by the end of July following up to two weeks of repairs and improvements. The restart will expand production at the facility by approximately 2,200 additional tons of iron per day.

ISG is the largest producer of tin-plated steel for the packaging industry and the second-largest producer of galvanized steel in North America. Value-added grades of steel currently represent about 60% of ISG's annual production. Value-added products carry higher selling prices and profit margins than commodity grades of steel.

"ISG Weirton will now be able to benefit from the strong demand for value-added tin plated and galvanized steel from our customers in the food packaging and construction industries," Mott said.

Employees are being recalled immediately under the terms of the agreement between the company and the union. Following this recall, ISG Weirton will employ approximately 1,900 steelworkers.

International Steel Group Inc. is the largest integrated steel producer in North America, based on its capacity to cast approximately 21 million tons of steel products annually. ISG ships a variety of steel products from 13 major steel producing and finishing facilities in eight states, including hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated sheets, tin mill products, carbon and alloy plates, rail products and semi-finished shapes serving the automotive, construction, pipe and tube, appliance, container and machinery markets.