For Immediate Release

Public Relations Division
Public Affairs Department
1170 Eighth Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18016-7699
(610) 694-3711 - Phone
(610) 694-1509 - Fax

BETHLEHEM, Pa., March 14, 1997 -- Bethlehem Steel's Board of Directors has authorized a capital appropriation of approximately $70 million for the modernization of the No.1 continuous slab caster at its Burns Harbor Division in Indiana, it was announced today by Curtis H. Barnette, Bethlehem's chairman.

To minimize the impact on Burns Harbor's operations, modernization of the caster will take place during the same time period in 1998 that the Division's "D" blast furnace is scheduled for reline. Customer deliveries and service will be maintained by building inventories of slabs prior to the equipment outages.

Mr. Barnette said that extensive technical modifications will be made to the caster to improve slab quality, increase productivity and reduce production costs. Improvements will include technology that will permit products with very demanding quality requirements to be cast at speeds higher than currently possible. The modernization will enable production to be allocated to either of the Division's two casting facilities, thereby maximizing cast slab production and decreasing requirements for purchased slabs.

Burns Harbor's No. 1 caster which was commissioned in 1975, accounts for about one-third of the Division's cast slab production. Mr. Barnette noted that this caster has provided outstanding service for more than 20 years with only minor revisions and improvements during this time.

Mr. Barnette said that the improvements to the No. 1 slab caster -- together with a recent series of moderizations at Burns Harbor's hot strip mill and 160-inch plate mill -- is consistent with Bethlehem's strategy of concentrating on steel and its plans for enhancing Burns Harbor's preeminent position in the face of increasing competition.

Bethlehem's chairman said that Burns Harbor, which accounts for about half of Bethlehem's total revenues, is one of the most efficient producers of high quality steel anywhere in the world, and its costs are fully competitive with those of the new minimills entering the marketplace.