Jupiter Aluminum caster, hot mill to resume operations in January

Jupiter Aluminum's caster and hot mill in Hammond, Indiana, are expected to resume operations in early to mid-January, but it has still not made a decision yet on its cold mill, according to a company official at the Fairland, Indiana, plant.

Officials at the Hammond plant were unavailable for comment.

The plant sustained a fire November 24 at the Hammond aluminum rod, coil, plate, sheet and foil plant; there were no injuries. The damage extended to most of the rolling building and put its cold mills out of commission, while not doing significant damage to the caster and hot mill.

However, the company has not declared force majeure as it has bought material from outside sources, said the official. "We plan to meet all December/January commitments," he said.

The company continues to clean up the debris from the fire, and all employees have been retained for 40-hour weeks.

According to the official and scrap dealers, the Hammond plant is taking in scrap from existing orders but does not have any new orders on the books. One industry source said that Jupiter would most likely have to get another mill to finish its coil, "as it appears their cold roll mill will be out of
commission for some time."

A scrap dealer said he had been told in early December that Jupiter would be operating one furnace but would not be receiving scrap for two to four weeks. Kevin Margraf, one of the Hammond Fire Department investigators responsible for investigating the cause of the blaze, had said that the
company's supply of natural gas had been turned back on.

In a statement on its website after the fire, Jupiter said the cold roll mills would need "extensive repairs."