Cleveland-Cliffs is ready to break ground on its long-promised hot-briquetted iron plant in Toledo, Ohio that will help boost production at Northshore Mining in Silver Bay.
Northshore will produce the HBI-ready taconite pellets used at the $700 million Toledo plant that’s predicted to produce 1.6 million metric tons per year of HBI to be used in electric-arc steel mills.
It’s one of the first major inroads into the electric steel-mill market for Minnesota taconite which has generally gone to larger blast-furnace steel mills. Because electric mills now produce nearly two-thirds of all domestic steel, that market is seen as critical for the long-term health of Minnesota’s taconite ore industry.
