The “L” blast furnace and other steelmaking facilities closed since last July at the Baltimore County mill will be reopened in May, according to an announcement made to employees this morning.

“We will begin to immediately recall certain employees and begin preparations for the restart of the primary operations at Sparrows Point,” said the joint statement by David A. Howard, mill manager, and John Cirri, president of Local 9477 of the United Steelworkers (USW).

“We will recall employees as required to support the schedule of work timeline necessary to return ‘L’ blast furnace, steelmaking and the hot strip mill to operating status. We expect that employees will return to work in phases over the next several weeks.”

While the timeline for the restart is not yet finalized, “We expect that ‘L’ furnace and steelmaking will return to service in May 2011 and the hot strip mill will return to service shortly thereafter.”

The Renco Group is in the process of buying Sparrows Point and other Midwest properties from Severstal in a $1.2 billion deal announced two weeks ago.

Today’s announcement from Severstal and USW said: “At this point, we remain on schedule to complete the sale of Sparrows Point, Warren and Wheeling, along with Wheeling Corrugating Company and 50% of Mountain State Carbon and Ohio Coatings Company by the end of March 2011.”

Currently, about 800 steelworkers are laid off at the Baltimore mill, and more than 2,000 are on long-term furlough at the Wheeling-Pitt facilities in Ohio and West Virginia.

Renco Group, owned by billionaire investor Ira Rennert, has formed a subsidiary, RG Steel, to buy the facilities. The new company said it will locate its headquarters at Sparrows Point.