Demo marks end of steel era in Kentucky city

The redevelopment of a decades-old steelmaking complex in Ashland, Kentucky, gained attention this week with the collapse of large furnace structure.

According to -based WSAZ-TV,) the demolition of the Amanda Furnace at the former AK Steel blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) site near Ashland was noticeable from “miles away” on Tuesday, Feb 8.

The station says “social media lit up,” Tuesday morning, with some people making comparisons to or mistaking the activity for an earthquake.

Some parts of the mill had been idle since 2015, and AK Steel made the decision to fully close the melt shop portion of the mill in early 2019. That decision was not reversed when Cleveland-based Cleveland-Cliffs acquired AK Steel later that year.

WSAZ quotes Cleveland-Cliffs as saying it will prepare the site for redevelopment, stating, “The entire project will be a positive cash flow generator for Cleveland-Cliffs and certainly a positive for the Ashland area.”

A video clip of the explosion that took down the Amanda Furnace can be viewed on this web page.