I am grateful to Maria at American Metal Market , for sending me a link to an article that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, written by David Bear. If you ever get to the UK David, I would gladly be your guide to Ironbridge for the day.

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IRONBRIDGE GORGE, Shropshire, England — It may be common to believe that Pittsburgh, with the steel mills that sprang up along the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers at the end of the 19th century, was the birthplace of the modern metals industry.

But that distinction belongs to this placid, tree-draped, 4-mile-long valley along the upper reaches of the Severn River, 100 miles upstream from Bristol.

It was here that Abraham Darby, an enterprising, God-fearing Quaker, arrived in 1708 to set up an operation for casting iron cooking pots. In those days, most metal cookware was made from brass and was very costly. Darby, then 31, had apprenticed at a foundry in Bristol where he’d worked out and patented a method to cast pots out of iron, which was cheaper than brass.

But Darby’s inventiveness didn’t end there. He also devised a way to smelt iron with coked coal, which was abundant in the hills of western England, rather than using charcoal, which required stripping the land of lumber.

Before long, Darby’s new iron furnace was producing the unimaginable quantity of six tons of iron per week, and his company began mass casting a range of cooking pots at high quality and low cost. The age of industry was under way.

Unfortunately, the pollution generated by his industry sickened Darby, who died in 1717 at age 39. But his family continued the operation, and the Coalbrookdale iron works grew and pioneered innovative techniques for making and casting the versatile metal, ideas that were quickly applied elsewhere.

By the 1770s, the once pastoral river valley had become an industrial dynamo, with much of its machinery cast from local iron. There were more furnaces and forges along the gorge’s two miles than anywhere else in the world, and the iron that flowed from them enabled the expansion of the British Empire. Smaller factories making clay tiles and smoking pipes had taken root along one bank, while fine ceramic china was being manufactured on the other.

The ravages of industrial pollution were becoming a problem as troublesome as the floods that periodically roared through the narrow valley.

In 1775 a local draftsman, T. F. Pritchard, approached Darby’s grandson, Abraham III, with an audacious plan to erect a bridge of cast iron to span the capricious Severn. His design called for a graceful, 60-foot-high arch of iron members to span 100 feet between two masonry abutments. No iron structure had ever been attempted on that scale. Some 800 structural members, the largest of which weighed 4 tons and measured 70 feet long, were cast in open sand forms constructed right on the building site.

The bridge’s construction took most of two years and required 380 tons of iron, all of it smelted in nearby furnaces. No one really knew what would happen when everything was bolted together and hoisted into position. The project’s extra costs nearly bankrupted Darby’s grandson, who had agreed to pay all overages.

But the design was true, and from the moment the iron toll bridge across the Severn opened on New Year’s Day 1781, it became an immediate, international sensation, a tourist attraction drawing admiring visitors from around the world. Artists, writers, engineers, spies, royalty and peasants all came to marvel at that “most incomparable piece of architecture.”

Other iron bridges were built along the river, but Darby’s delight had captured an enduring place in history. And the bridge itself has endured for nearly 230 years. Vehicular traffic used it to cross the river until 1934, and tolls were still collected for pedestrians until 1950 when ownership of the bridge was turned over to the county council, which began developing the bridge and other industrial facilities as historical attractions.

In 1986, the entire Ironbridge Gorge was declared a World Heritage Site, a place of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity. In addition to the bridge and its adjacent toll house museum, the gorge features a clutch of other engaging small museums, each packed with artifacts from the area’s industrial age.

Among these are the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, three floors of exhibits housed in Darby’s former iron works, with a detailed history of the company and its products, including the brick works for the original blast furnace. Another building contains Enginuity, a modern, hands-on museum chronicling all the ways that good ideas are transformed into reality. Nearby, the two sturdy stone houses erected by Abraham I and his successors, have been carefully restored and filled with generations of family history and Quaker memorabilia.

Situated in an old brick warehouse down on the river’s bank, the Museum of the Gorge serves to catalog and explain the history and ecology of the gorge.

On the valley’s upper slopes, Blists Hill Victorian Town re-creates the coal mining village that took root along the Shropshire Canal above the gorge. In its collection of authentic shops, homes and a working forge costumed interpreters bring the past to life.

On the river’s opposite bank is the Jackfield Tile Museum. By the time the Iron Bridge was erected, utilitarian tile had been made from local clays for more than a century. By 1800, decorative tiles were being cast, and in Victorian times came in vogue for adorning everything from subway stations to pubs.

All in all, Ironbridge Gorge makes for a fascinating foray into the early evolution of the industrial age, and a full day is not enough time to explore all of its various elements.

In a landmark trade case, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled Friday that hefty tariffs will be slapped on Chinese pipe imports for the next five years.

By a 5-0 vote, the ITC said American pipe producers were being wrongfully harmed by Chinese pipe producers. Wheatland Tube Co. and five other American producers had petitioned the ITC for trade penalties against China because pipe products were being dumped on American shores. They also said the Chinese government was unfairly subsidizing that industry.

The ITC agreed in both instances and ordered that duties ranging from 99 to 701 percent be imposed on Chinese circular welded pipes.

Dumping means a company was selling an item below the cost it took to produce that product.

This marks the first time an American industry has won a decision to inflict tariffs on a Chinese product based on the argument that the Chinese government was unfairly subsidizing a Chinese industry.

American pipe producers said that in 2007 China exported 750,000 tons of pipe to the U.S. Friday’s ruling means there’s almost no chance that any further Chinese pipe imports will hit American docks over the next five years, industry leaders said. Pipe entering the U.S. from China has skyrocketed. In 2002, only 10,000 tons entered the U.S.

Over that same period, four American pipe plants –– including Wheatland Tube’s Sharon plant –– have closed, with 500 workers losing their jobs.

Smiles began breaking out on local pipe executives and workers as word of the trade case spread.

“It’s justice,’’ declared Barry Zekelman, chief executive officer and president of John Maneely Co., which owns Wheatland Tube. “I’m happy for the workers. I really am. It’s a great day.’’

He estimated the 750,000 tons of Chinese pipe imports entering the U.S. could be valued at $1 billion.

“To say that now there’s $1 billion up for grabs is unrealistic,’’ Zekelman said. “Other imports have replaced a good portion of that. But there’s still a nice chunk of it up for grabs.’’

Since the trade penalties formalized Friday by the ITC have been in place on Chinese pipe products under previous rulings since last November on the unfair subsidies, and since January on the dumping, Wheatland Tube is already seeing the results.

“The imports of Chinese pipe have dropped off the map since the fourth quarter of last year,’’ Zekelman said.

A number of laid-off Wheatland Tube workers have been brought back since the initial rulings, he said, but didn’t give a specific figure.

Current production could increase further.

SHANGHAI, China, June 24 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ — China Precision Steel (the ”Company”) (Nasdaq: CPSL - News), a niche precision steel processing company principally engaged in producing and selling high precision cold-rolled steel products, today announced that the Company’s ultra-thin and high-strength cold-rolled steel strip products were awarded ”Project Converting Advanced New Technological Achievements into Productivity” certifications by the Shanghai Municipal Office for Converting Advanced New Technological Achievements into Productivity in June 2008.

China Precision Steel’s ultra-thin cold-rolled and high-strength cold- rolled strip products utilize patented systems and high technology reduction processing procedures. The certifications include about half of the Company’s ultra-thin and high strength cold-rolled products, used in the manufacture of automobile parts and components, steel roofing, plane friction discs, appliances, food packaging materials, saw blades, textile needles, and microelectronics. Receiving these certifications allows China Precision Steel to take advantage of the preferential treatment provided under the provisions of the Chinese government’s Science and Technology Ministry. Benefits include financing for accredited projects at a discounted interest rate, refunds of land use fees related to accredited projects and special tax treatment for corporate and value added taxes by local tax authority, subject to further approval.

”We focus our efforts on utilizing advanced technology for developing quality products, and the receipt of this prestigious certification recognizes our strength and capabilities,” commented Dr. Wo Hing Li, China Precision Steel’s Chairman and CEO. ”With further approval, by receiving these certifications, we will be able to take advantage of the provisions of the Science and Technology Ministry which will help us deploy our capital more effectively and expand our high-end product offerings.”

Shanghai Municipal Office for Converting Advanced New Technological Achievements into Productivity is involved in setting long-term science and technology development policies in Shanghai. The office has established an accrediting system for projects with the purpose of converting advanced new technological achievements into productivity. Companies are certified on the basis of technological grade, market prospects, risks and intellectual property of projects in Shanghai. Certification is valid for one year.

AK Steel (NYSE: AKS - News) has been added to the list of “World-Class Steelmakers,” reflecting the company’s extraordinary turnaround since 2003, according to World Steel Dynamics (WSD), a steel industry strategic information service. The announcement was made at this week’s Steel Success Strategies conference held in New York that was attended by more than 1,400 steel industry executives from around the world.

In making the announcement, Peter F. Marcus, managing partner of WSD, said, “AK Steel’s common stock when Jim Wainscott was appointed president and CEO in 2003 was under $2 per share. Share performance has since been stellar, trading at over $73 per share in the last month. In addition, AK Steel’s operating profit per ton is now the highest among the USA integrated producers and its balance sheet is remarkably improved.”

Marcus noted that the company has leading market positions in high value-added products, including automotive sheet products, stainless steel for automotive exhaust applications, and the highest valued-added silicon electrical steels. He added that AK Steel is consistently rated at the top of its class in product quality by customers, according to independent surveys.

“We are excited and honored that AK Steel has been named to WSD’s prestigious list of World-Class Steelmakers,” said James L. Wainscott, chairman, president and CEO of AK Steel. “Attaining recognition as one of the finest steel producers on the planet is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of AK Steel’s outstanding board of directors, management team and employees.”