GEORGETOWN, S.C. - The owners of Georgetown Steel filed for protection from its creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Columbia on Tuesday.

In a news release, Georgetown Steel President Robert L. Hacker said an increase in the costs of natural gas and scrap metal and weak market conditions led to the company's financial problems.

The mill's closing affects 541 employees, according to information on the state Employment Security Commission Web site.

Earlier this week, Daniel K. Thorne, chairman of mill owner Midcoast Industries, said Georgetown steel had lost $15 million this year and couldn't scrape together the money to keep its operations going.

Thorne said bankruptcy was likely "unless somebody were to step up ... with $10 million to $15 million in cash." A Chapter 11 filing allows a company to operate while it works out deals with creditors to pay debts, but Thorne said Monday it was unlikely the mill would reopen.

That news shocked some workers. "It's a tremendous blow," said Robert Davis, one of the plant workers who expected to return to work Wednesday. "I have no idea where I'm going to start looking for work. I'm 52 years old, so it's pretty hard at my age."

James Sanderson, president of Steelworkers Union Local 7898, said the state and Santee Cooper, which provides power to the mill, should have done more to keep the mill running. He said Santee Cooper and Gov. Mark Sanford backed out of a deal that would have helped keep the plant open after workers rejected the pay concessions.

"Santee Cooper and the state would have bent over backwards to help a nonunion company," he said.

But Sanford said the company and the state did plenty.

"At substantial risk to itself, Santee Cooper put a million dollars on the table in an effort to save Georgetown Steel - and did it during one of the toughest budget years on record," Sanford said.

"While it's never been the state's obligation to bail out a company that's going under, in this case, the state was willing to put the money on the line in a good faith effort to try and bring everyone together," Sanford said. "It's unfortunate that wasn't the way it worked out."