Sydney Steel Corporation
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Sydney Steel Corporation (SYSCO) was a
Crown corporation Crown corporation () is the term used in Canada for organizations that are structured like private companies, but are directly and wholly owned by the government. Crown corporations have a long-standing presence in the country, and have a sign ...
in the province of
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
, Canada. It owned and operated a steel mill in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
.


Early history of steelmaking in Sydney

An integrated steel mill was established on the southeast side of Sydney Harbour in the Whitney Pier neighbourhood of
Sydney, Nova Scotia 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 dissolv ...
in 1901 by American investors. This entity was named Dominion Iron and Steel Company Limited (DISCO). Coal from the Dominion Coal Company Limited (DOMCO) was used to create coke to fuel the
blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...
s for smelting
iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...
which arrived from Bell Island,
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...
. In 1920, DISCO, the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company (SCOTIA) in
Sydney Mines Sydney Mines (Mi'kmaq language, Mi'kmawi'simk: ''Klmuejuapskwe'katik;'' Scottish Gaelic: ''Mèinnean Shidni'') is a community and former town in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded in 1784, and incorporated as a town i ...
, and the Wabana ore mine on Bell Island were acquired by the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO). In 1930, BESCO reorganized as Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO).
Hawker Siddeley 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. History Founded in 1962 as the Canadian divis ...
purchased DOSCO in 1957.


Donald Commission

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 A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...
of Prime Minister
Lester Pearson Lester Bowles Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian politician, diplomat, statesman, and scholar who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. He also served as Leader of the Liberal Party of C ...
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 Crown corporation () is the term used in Canada for organizations that are structured like private companies, but are directly and wholly owned by the government. Crown corporations have a long-standing presence in the country, and have a sign ...
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. ::''"Future planning should be based on the assumption that the Sydney mines will not operate beyond 1981."'' 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.


Nationalization

On December 1, 1967, the provincial government established Sydney Steel Corporation (SYSCO) under an act of the provincial legislature. 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 A political football is a topic or issue that is seized on by opposing political parties or factions and made a more political issue than it might initially seem to be. "To make a political football" ut of somethingis defined in William Safire ...
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.


Closure

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 John Frederick Hamm (born April 8, 1938) is a Canadian physician and politician, who served as the 25th premier of Nova Scotia from 1999 to 2006. Education Hamm, a graduate of the University of King's College and Dalhousie University, was a ...
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. The liquidation of the corporation began soon after. In July 2001, it was announced that SYSCO's mini mill was being sold to an
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
n 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.


Environmental legacy

Until the mid-1980s, SYSCO along with its predecessors,
Hawker Siddeley Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in list of aircraft manufacturers, aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers ...
, 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 Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...
in September 2014. In 2006, Carole Lee Boutilier, founder of th
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.


References

{{Authority control Ironworks and steel mills in Canada Steel companies of Canada Companies based in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Crown corporations of Nova Scotia Manufacturing companies established in 1967 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2001 1967 establishments in Nova Scotia 2001 disestablishments in Nova Scotia Mining in Nova Scotia