Reuters cited Mr Mario Longhi United States Steel Corporation as saying thast the company could replace another one of its older blast furnaces with an electric arc furnace.

US Steel said in January that it was applying for permits to build an electric arc furnace to replace the blast furnace at its Fairfield, Alabama, facility, part of a push to cut costs.

Mr Longhi said that "We are moving ahead with the first one. And there is a lot of analysis going on, given the fact that we have plenty of blast furnaces, to see where, if, when the next one could be replaced by another electric arc furnace."

US Steel's profitable rival Nucor Corporation has long specialized in steelmaking with electric arc furnaces, often called mini mills. US Steel and Nucor are the biggest US based steelmakers.

A sustained shift towards mini-mills would be a big change in strategy for US Steel which has generally focused on maintaining its fleet of blast furnaces.

Electric arc furnaces can use steel scrap, rather than iron ore, to make steel. They can cut costs associated with transporting raw materials, and insulate steelmakers from increases in the price of iron ore and coal.

Mr Longhi declined to name blast furnaces that could be replaced but there are several options One factor is what is the age of a certain blast furnace, when it is going to come up for a massive reline.