Cleveland-Cliffs Breaks Ground on $700M Toledo Plant
The facility is scheduled to start operation by the summer of 2020 and create 130 new jobs. Construction of the project, situated at the Ironville Terminal in the Port of Toledo, is expected to generate an additional 1,200 jobs.
By Gail Kalinoski
Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president & CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., the largest and oldest independent iron ore mining company in the U.S., is set to hold a groundbreaking for its $700 million hot-briquetted iron (HBI) production plant on April 5, 2018 in Toledo, Ohio.
The Toledo plant, announced in June 2017, will produce 1.6 million metric tons per year of customized HBI. The Cleveland-based company will be the sole producer of high-quality customized feedstock for the domestic electric arc furnace steelmakers located in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes market currently imports commercial quality pig iron and HBI from countries including Russia, Ukraine, Brazil and Venezuela.
The plant is expected to begin operating in the summer of 2020 and create 130 new jobs. Construction is expected to generate about 1,200 jobs. The project will be located at the Ironville Terminal in the Port of Toledo, about 117 miles from the company’s Cleveland headquarters. The site provides proximity to future customers, as well as access to affordable gas and multiple rail carriers.
“Today we are launching a new era for the iron and steel industry in the United States. As Cleveland-Cliffs begins the construction of the first hot-briquetted iron (HBI) production plant in the Great Lakes region, we are taking the initial steps to enable EAF steelmakers to produce the specs associated with high margin steels for sophisticated end markets, such as automotive and others,” Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president & CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs, said in a prepared statement.
City, State Incentives sweeten deal
The deal includes $30 million in state incentives and the City of Toledo agreed to provide an expansion incentive of 30 percent, estimated at $1 million. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz are among the officials expected at the Thursday groundbreaking ceremony.
The new plant will enable Cleveland-Cliffs, which has been a major supplier of iron ore pellets to the North American steel industry from its Minnesota and Michigan mines, to also supply companies that use electricity to produce steel. The Toledo facility is also expected to boost production at Northshore Mining Co. in Silver Bay, Minn., where the HBI-ready taconite pellets needed for the Toledo plant will be produced, according to the Duluth News Tribune.
Image courtesy of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
You must be logged in to post a comment.