MONESSEN, Pa. — ArcelorMittal says it will spend $50 million to upgrade and restart a coke plant near Pittsburgh, adding more than 100 jobs in the process.
Plant manager Paul Champagne says the Luxembourg-based metals company will modernize the pollution-control equipment at the plant, and make other improvements so the plant in Monessen will be safer and more competitive.
ArcelorMittal bought the plant about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh in October 2008 and idled it in May 2009, keeping 67 workers there to maintain the facility.
Champagne says the plant should have about 180 workers when production resumes, a net gain of 113 jobs. That's scheduled to happen in May 2014.
Coke is a form of baked coal that steel producers use in blast furnaces.