CHICAGO, July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Efforts to restore ironmaking capability at the L Blast Furnace at Mittal Steel USA's Sparrows Point, Md. facility are progressing toward an expected return to full operations before the end of July.

The furnace, which is the second-largest in North America, has faced severe production issues since losing power for several hours when lightning struck an electrical substation during a storm on June 23.

"We have had a recovery team working around the clock to minimize the outage, and we are now confident that we will be back to essentially full operation by July 21," said Bill Brake, executive vice president, operations, Mittal Steel USA.

"Returning such a large furnace to full capability after an extended power failure is a highly complex, demanding process," he said. "We are working closely with customers to make sure that we respond to their needs as we begin filling orders again and that we compensate as much as possible for the production shortfalls related to this incident."

The June 23 electrical failure resulted in an emergency shutdown of the furnace, which in turn caused the furnace to cool and created problems with the distribution of materials within the furnace. On June 24, this resulted in a breakout of hot metal from one of the tuyeres (hot blast nozzles), which required extensive cleanup and careful recommissioning of the furnace. No one was injured as a result of the incident.

L Blast Furnace is capable of producing about 270,000 tons of iron monthly and is expected to lose approximately 250,000 tons of ironmaking as a result of the incident.

The company expects the financial damage and losses associated with the disruption to be covered by insurance.

Downstream operations at the plant also were affected by the lack of primary production during this outage. As a result, about 150 of the plant's 3,000 employees have rescheduled vacations or taken voluntary layoffs for the brief period these operations are expected to be idled.

About Mittal Steel USA

Mittal Steel USA, with its affiliates, is the largest steel producer in North America and the largest integrated steel producer in the United States. It serves a broad U.S. manufacturing base. The company was formed in April 2005 and consists of the former Ispat Inland Inc. and the former International Steel Group. It has operations in 12 states of the United States.

About Mittal Steel

Mittal Steel Company (NYSE: MT; AEX: MT) is the world's largest and most global steel company. The company has operations in 16 countries, on four continents. Mittal Steel encompasses all aspects of modern steelmaking, to produce a comprehensive portfolio of both flat and long steel products to meet a wide range of customer needs. It serves all the major steel consuming sectors, including automotive, appliance, machinery and construction.

For 2005, Mittal Steel had revenues of US $28.1 billion and steel shipments of 49.2 million tons. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange and the Euronext Amsterdam under the ticker symbol "MT."