Heavy Metal

The Outside of Heavy Metal

The exterior is made of heavy metal. If you want to visit the factory you have to climb under or over 5 fences in total! Security is also very strict and checks the site every time with cars and dogs.

The Outside of Heavy Metal

History

The factory was built in 1963 as part of the Espérance-Longdoz company. It was capable of producing up to 1.6 million tons of steel. The company has a long name and ownership history. The first change was in 1970 when its parent company Espérance-Longdoz was sold to form Cockerill-Ougrée-Providence, which merged into Cockerill-Sambre in 1981, Usinor in 1998, Arcelor in 2002 and finally into ArcelorMittal in the year of 2006. The steel factory was shut down in the year 2009 after the financial crisis of 2007-2010.

Drone shots

The factory was one of many, it was supplied from the blast furnaces Hauts Fourneaux 6 and Hauts Fourneaux B (also known as HF6 and HFB). After the raw material was processed in the furnaces, the liquid cast iron was transported to Heavy Metal via torpedo wagons. Once it arrived at the factory, it was refined into steel using the Linz – Donawitz process. The steel was then converted to sheets and other products, after which it was transported all over the world. And of course a couple of drone shots in the snow from this amazing factory.

Drone shots

Revisit Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal, also known as Cockerill Sambre Chertal was a hot rolling steel mill in the Liege area. As of today, the steel factory is being demolished since 2022.

Revisit Heavy Metal

The Steel Cups

The steel cups are still here but some of them are already destroyed.

The Steel Cups

Control room

We found for the first time the control room sadly this is also being demolished but still beautiful to see.

Control room

Continuous Pouring Hall

You can see the deconstruction is already far. But now the roof is off I can take better pictures because there is more light inside the hall.

Continuous Pouring Hall

The Crane of the Big Hall from Heavy Metal

On Top of the Continuous Pouring Hall

Here you can better see the deconstruction.

On Top of the Continuous Pouring Hall

Big Crane, Small Control Room

The other halls from heavy metal with a little control room and a big crane.

Big Crane, Small Control Room

On Top of the Converter

Converter

A converter in an oxygen steel factory is a large, tiltable vessel used for refining molten iron into steel. High-purity oxygen is blown into the molten metal to reduce carbon content and remove impurities, producing high-quality steel efficiently.

Converter

The Laboratory

The laboratory of the steel factory. Here they tested the steel quality.

The Labratory

The Water Cooling Tower

This building ensured that the rolling mill was cooled.

The Water Cooling Tower

The Hot Strip Rolling Mill

After the steel slabs come out of the reheating furnace, they are rolled by a huge rolling mill, thinner and thinner. The thickness can even be reduced to just 2 millimeters, perfect for applications such as cans.

The Steel Car

Torpedo trains

A torpedo car in a steel factory is a specialized, insulated rail vehicle used to transport molten iron from the blast furnace to the converter while maintaining high temperatures.