Certificate of 5 warrants to bearer issued in Seraing in 1989.

John Cockerill (1790-1840), built his first steam locomotive in 1835 in Liège.

In 1821, Cockerill built the first coke blast furnace in Seraing. On his death, his heirs caused the creation of the limited company John Cockerill to operate the John Cockerill establishments in Seraing and Liège. Its purpose is the operation of the establishments of Seraing and Liège, including coal mines, blast furnaces, rolling mills, forges, foundries, manufacture of all kinds of steam engines, boilers, bridges, iron ships and all related thereto, mechanical looms for spinning and weaving, carding machines, clippers, spindles, tools, etc.

The company then took over coal concessions, particularly in Ougrée. It merged with the Ougrée-Marihaye company in 1954. It merged in 1981 with Hainaut-Sambre and became "Cockerill-Sambre". The company will be bought by the Belgian State.

Nowadays, Cockerill-Sambre is a trademark of ARCELOR-MITTAL.