In 1895 August Thyssen had a basic Bessemer smelting plant built in Bruckhausen to allow him to produce steel from high-phosphorus ores independently of the scrap market, picture postcard ca. 1900.
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In 1895 August Thyssen takes the final step in setting up an integrated iron and steel mill when Gewerkschaft Deutscher Kaiser in Hamborn near Duisburg builds its own blast furnace plant. In the subsequent years he systematically expands the company by only buying or founding firms which add to the vertical integration of the group.
