U.S. Steel Corp. says it will restart the second of two shuttered blast furnaces at its Granite City mill and hire 300 employees.

The decision by the Pittsburgh-based company follows a March announcement that it would restart the other blast furnace at the Granite City Works in the Metro East and recall 500 workers. U.S. Steel laid off hundreds of workers when it idled the furnaces in late 2015, with employment at the nearly 2,000 worker plant dipping as low as 100 in the ensuing two years.

The company says the restart of the first furnace is in progress and that the second furnace should be in operation around Oct. 1. After the two restarts are complete, about 1,500 people will work at the plant, U.S. Steel says.