MIKE LEE, left, and Delbert Nichols, both employees of Columbus Auto Shredding of Columbus, Ohio, work to repair a blade from a cutting machine at the site of the former RG Steel plant in Martins Ferry on Monday. The company is razing a section of the former steel mill for its owner, Mull Group Inc. of Wheeling.

A SECTION of the former RG Steel plant in Martins Ferry is being razed by Columbus Auto Shredding of Columbus, Ohio.

A LARGE claw attached to a backhoe waits to start work again to raze a section of the former RG Steel plant in Martins Ferry. In the background, Nichols, left, and Lee work to repair a blade from a cutting machine at the site on Monday.

MARTINS FERRY — Visitors to the industrial park area of the Purple City may have noticed that the former RG Steel plant at 1001 Main St. is being demolished.

Demolition of a portion of the former steel mill — once part of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. — is being conducted by Columbus Shredding of Columbus, Ohio. An official with the Mull Group Inc. of Wheeling, which owns the building, declined to comment on the work at this time.

Just last November, an auction of the former RG Steel assets occurred at the plant, attracting dozens of people and companies from across the country. During the auction, remnants of the facility’s former name, Wheeling Corrugating, could be seen in the form of old advertising signage inside the plant, along with machinery and other items for sale. The public sale included hundreds of pieces of equipment used in the galvanizing process, along with forklifts, cranes, motors and more. The auctioneer’s website described the sale as “a huge scrap opportunity.”

Part of the plant now is occupied by fracking sludge recycler Austin Master Services.

Ohio Coatings also stores steel coils there. At one time the plant employed more than 2,000 people.

Wheeling businessman Quay Mull purchased the former mill for $2 million during RG Steel’s bankruptcy sale in 2012.

RG Steel was formed when the Renco Group bought the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel mills in Warren, Ohio, and Sparrows Point, Md., from Russia’s Severstal in 2011. Prior to Severstal, the Martins Ferry plant and other Wheeling-Pitt facilities were acquired by Esmark Inc. during a 2007 merger with Wheeling-Pitt.

The portion of the Martins Ferry plant being razed was known as the “pickling area,” where acid was used in the steel finishing process.