Increasing pressure from the French government on Sollac (Société Lorraine de Laminage Continu) during the 1960s resulted in the construction of a giant metallurgical plant at Fos-sur-Mer, west of Marseille.
Sollac originally planned to establish the mill in the north of France near La Hevres, but the government chose the town of Fos-sur-Mer with emphasis on regional development.
In 1969, Sollac founded a subsidiary Solmer (Societé Lorraine et Méridionale le Laminage Continu), which continued to operate under the name Sollac Fos from 1988.
In 2000 complete restructuring took place and shortly afterwards Arcelor was created - then ArcelorMittal after its merger with Mittal Steel in 2006.
Construction of the plant began in 1971 and the first tapping of blast furnace no.1 took place in 1974. The second largest iron&steel works in France operates a sinter plant, coke plant, two blast furnaces, steel plant with two 320 t LD converters and a hot strip mill at the moment.
Keywords: arcelormittal, fos-sur-mer, arcelormittal mediterranee, sollac, usinor, steel making, industrial photography, industriekultur, acierie, blast furnace, hochofen, industrial landscape, 2022
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