 | This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject , potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral.(July 2012) |
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| Company type | Crown corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Steel |
| Founded | 1899 (as DISCO) |
| Defunct | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Sydney, Nova Scotia |
| Website | sysco |
Sydney Steel Corporation (SYSCO) was a Crown corporation in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It owned and operated a steel mill in Sydney.
An integrated steel mill was established on the southeast side of Sydney Harbour in the Whitney Pier neighbourhood of Sydney, Nova Scotia in 1901 by American investors. This entity was named Dominion Iron and Steel Company Limited (DISCO). [1] Coal from the Dominion Coal Company Limited (DOMCO) was used to create coke to fuel the blast furnaces for smelting iron ore which arrived from Bell Island, [2] Newfoundland.
In 1920, DISCO, the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company (SCOTIA) in Sydney Mines, and the Wabana ore mine on Bell Island were acquired by the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO). [3] In 1930, BESCO reorganized as Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO). [1] Hawker Siddeley Canada purchased DOSCO in 1957. [4]
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Hawker Siddeley sought to eliminate money losing operations and in 1965, DOSCO announced that its mines had only 15 years of production left and concluded that the cost of opening new underground mines in the Sydney Coal Field would be too expensive. The company made its intentions clear that it would be exiting the coal mining business within months. DOSCO's continued operation of its steel mill, lacking modernization and far removed from the steel markets of the midwest and central Canada, was uncertain at best.
In response to a vast public outcry in industrial Cape Breton County, the Minority government of Prime Minister Lester Pearson announced J.R. Donald would head a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Cape Breton coal industry, with hearings held in 1965 and 1966. The Donald Commission recommended that a federal Crown corporation be established to acquire and manage DOSCO's coal operations, with the aim being to slowly wean the Sydney area economy off the coal industry.
On July 7, 1967 the Cape Breton Development Corporation, or DEVCO, was established to operate the mines in the interim, while phasing them out throughout the 1970s and, at the same time, develop new economic opportunities for the surrounding communities.
On December 1, 1967, the provincial government established Sydney Steel Corporation (SYSCO) under an act of the provincial legislature. [1] to operate DOSCO's steel mill for a period of 12 months until the steel mill could be resold to another private operator.
On March 30, 1968 DEVCO expropriated DOSCO's coal mines and the Sydney and Louisburg Railway, settling for a payment of $12 million. The federal government's plans to gradually shut down coal operations during the 1970s were derailed by rising world energy prices and changes in political priorities. Similarly, the provincial government's 1-year temporary commitment to transitioning ownership of the steel mill from DOSCO turned into a 33-year commitment, adding over $1 billion to the cash-strapped province's debt.
SYSCO became a political football for economically depressed Industrial Cape Breton and no provincial government dared to shut it down, opting instead to use heavily subsidized federally produced DEVCO coal for coking fuel to continue running the antiquated mill. Over time, the provincial government gave limited capital investments to SYSCO from the late 1970s into the early 1980s. In the mid-1980s the provincial government of premier John Buchanan decided to modernize the steel mill prior to selling it to the private sector. This modernization changed the steel making process from a fully integrated oxygen blast plant using iron ore into an electric arc mini mill using scrap steel. The blast process fuelled by coke was mothballed in favour of using electricity to smelt the scrap recycled metal brought in by rail.
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With no purchasers from the private sector and tumultuous steel markets during the 1990s, the provincial government began to seek ways to rid itself of SYSCO. Numerous proposals for sale to foreign and domestic companies came and went, raising and lowering the hopes of Sydney and its surrounding area each time announcements were made and then promises broken.
Finally, the Progressive Conservative government of John Hamm opted to sever provincial funding for the company entirely upon being elected in 1999. Sydney Steel Corporation's board of directors was disbanded on 25 January 2001. [5] The liquidation of the corporation began soon after. [6] In July 2001, it was announced that SYSCO's mini mill was being sold to an Indian company named Zoom Developers who planned to dismantle it and ship it overseas.
Despite worker protests, SYSCO's steel production was shut down that year with the site remediation talking taking place over the next two decades. The area is now an industrial and sports park.
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Until the mid-1980s, SYSCO along with its predecessors, Hawker Siddeley, DOSCO, BESCO, and DOMCO/DISCO, was a user of coke as a fuel for the mill's blast furnaces. Coke is produced by slowly baking coal, evaporating or leaching out various liquids in the process.
The coke ovens used in Sydney were located across Victoria Road from the steel mill and since 1967 were operated by the federal Crown corporation DEVCO, which also operated the mines that produced the coal supply. The associated run-off from these coke ovens over a period of 85 years ended up in the Muggah Creek tidal estuary downhill from the coke ovens and adjacent to the steel mill, creating the Sydney Tar Ponds.
Site remediation was carried out by Nova Scotia Lands Incorporated and Harbourside Commercial Park Inc., a Crown corporation formed to redevelop the site as a commercial and industrial estate. The cleanup was completed in 2013 with the opening of Harbourside Commercial Park and Open Hearth Park, which are situated on the site of the former Sydney Steel Corporation. Open Hearth Park features a playground and soccer field, and has hosted events such as a concert by international recording stars Aerosmith in September 2014. [7]
In 2006, Carole Lee Boutilier, founder of the Sydney Steel Plant Museum, contributed a sample of steel rail to the Six String Nation project. Part of that material was inlaid as a fret marker into the 17th fret of Voyageur, the guitar at the heart of the project. [8]
Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and dissolved on 1 August 1995, when it was amalgamated into the regional municipality.
Cape Breton Regional Municipality is the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's second largest municipality and the economic heart of Cape Breton Island. As of 2021 the municipality has a population of 93,694. The municipality was created in 1995 through the amalgamation of eight municipalities located in Cape Breton County.
The Sydney Tar Ponds were a hazardous waste site on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Hawker Siddeley Canada was the Canadian unit of the Hawker Siddeley Group of the United Kingdom and manufactured railcars, subway cars, streetcars, aircraft engines and ships from the 1960s to 1980s.
The Sydney and Louisburg Railway (S&L) was a Canadian railway. Built to transport coal from various mines to the ports of Sydney and Louisbourg, the S&L operated in the eastern part of Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia. The railway uses a slightly different spelling for the town of "Louisbourg".
The Devco Railway was a Canadian railway. Devco Railway operated as an unincorporated department within the Coal Division of the Cape Breton Development Corporation, also known as DEVCO; as such there is no formally incorporated entity named "Devco Railway". Devco Railway took over the operations of the Sydney and Louisburg Railway on March 30, 1968 when DEVCO expropriated the S&L as part of the assets of the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, or DOSCO.
The Cape Breton Development Corporation, or DEVCO, was a Government of Canada Crown corporation. It ceased operation on December 31, 2009, after being amalgamated with Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation (ECBC).
The Sydney Coal Railway is a Canadian short-line railway operating in the eastern part of Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia.
Industrial Cape Breton is a geographic region in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It refers to the eastern portion of Cape Breton County fronting the Atlantic Ocean on the southeastern part of Cape Breton Island.
The Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation was a Canadian coal mining and steel manufacturing company. Incorporated in 1928 and operational by 1930, DOSCO was predated by the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO), which was a merger of the Dominion Coal Company, the Dominion Iron and Steel Company and the Nova Scotia Steel Company. DOSCO was one of the largest private employers in Canada during the 1930s–1950s. In 1957, DOSCO was purchased as a subsidiary of A.V. Roe Canada Ltd.
William Davis was a coal miner from Cape Breton Island. He was born in Gloucestershire, England and died in New Waterford, Nova Scotia. His name is well-remembered in Nova Scotia due to the annual observance of William Davis Miners' Memorial Day in recognition of Davis and also of all miners killed in the province's coal mines.
Whitney Pier is an urban neighbourhood in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. Prior to the 20th century, this area was known as “Eastmount” or “South Sydney Harbour,” and had long been a fishing and farming district. It is a triangle-shaped area North of the Muggah Creek estuary running along the Eastern shore of Sydney Harbour.
The Cumberland Railway and Coal Company is a defunct Canadian industrial company with interests in coal mines in Springhill, Nova Scotia, and a railway that operated from Springhill Junction to Parrsboro.
TrentonWorks is an industrial manufacturing facility located in the town of Trenton, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Lingan Generating Station is a 620 MW Canadian coal-fired electrical generating station located in the community of Lingan in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Lingan is operated by Nova Scotia Power Inc. and is their largest generating station.
Point Aconi is a rural community in Nova Scotia at the northeastern tip of Boularderie Island. It derives its name from the headland of the same name, Point Aconi.
The Cape Breton coal strike of 1981 was a strike by coal miners who were members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) District 26 against the Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO) of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was the first strike by District 26 since 1947. The high double-digit inflation of the late 1970s and early 1980s affected the buying power for the miners. The strike, which was bitter and violent, began on July 17, 1981. It ended on October 8, 1981 after the fourth contract vote.
The Point Aconi Generating Station is a 165 MW Canadian electrical generating station located in the community of Point Aconi, Nova Scotia, a rural community in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. A thermal generating station, the Point Aconi Generating Station is owned and operated by Nova Scotia Power Corporation. It opened on August 13, 1994 following four years of construction.
Victoria Junction is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
The Point Tupper Generating Station is a 150 MW Canadian electrical generating station located in the community of Point Tupper in Richmond County, Nova Scotia.
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