Steelmaker ArcelorMittal Dofasco says it’s decommissioning one of its two remaining coke plants in Hamilton, with “the last push of coke” to be completed April 13.

People who work at the coke plant are being reassigned to new roles within the company, Verdun said, though she didn’t say how many people or whether their new jobs will pay as much.

In 2022, federal and provincial governments touted investments in ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s plan, saying the business would decommission its blast furnaces and coke plants and replace them with direct reduced iron technology and electric arc furnaces by 2028.

That quietly changed, CBC Hamilton reported in January, with the company extending its timeline to 2050, according to federal documents. Facing scrutiny at a heated community meeting later that month, Gas Gebara, Dofasco’s general manager of environment and energy, acknowledged “timelines have shifted.” He refused to provide any indication of when it will follow through on its plan, or even if it would happen in the next quarter century.