Ontario's labour ministry is investigating following a Dec. 10 roof collapse at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie.
"On Dec. 11, 2024, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development was notified of an incident at a construction project in Sault Ste. Marie," said Michel Figueredo, press secretary to David Piccini, Ontario's minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development, via email.
"Reports indicate that no work was underway at the time, and no workers were injured. A ministry inspector has been assigned to investigate. As the investigation is ongoing, we are unable to provide further details at this time."
The company reported that, at roughly 8 p.m. on Dec. 10, a small section of the truck door canopy outside the scrap bay of the newly constructed electric arc furnace building partially collapsed, likely due to excessive snow accumulation.
Algoma confirmed no injuries had been reported and regulators had been notified.
An area around the canopy had been cordoned off, the company said, and it planned to install snow stops to prevent the canopy from becoming overloaded in the future.
Construction on the electric arc furnace building would continue, Algoma said, and the company did not anticipate the incident to impact timelines associated with the construction or commissioning of the building.
The game-changing $870-million transformation to electric-arc steel-making is the most costly building project in Sault Ste. Marie's history.
In an update delivered one week ago at the B. Riley Securities Energy Convergence Conference in New York City, Algoma officials reported:
- the company has so far spent $672 million on the project;
- the melt shop roofing is 90 per cent complete;
- the electric arc furnace #2 tilt table and shell assembly was 90 per cent complete;
- as of last week, the project was on track;
- it involves 12,000 tonnes of structural steel and 22,000 cubic meters of concrete;
- as of last week the #2 electric arc furnace operating floor structural steel was 100 per cent complete;
- the electric arc furnace substation was 100 per cent complete;
- at utility room #1, structural steel was 100 per cent complete; and
- steel reline station was 100 per cent complete.
