Prices
March 20, 2020
Cleveland-Cliffs Puts HBI Construction on Hold
Written by Sandy Williams
Cleveland-Cliffs has temporarily shut down construction activity at its hot-briquetted iron (HBI) site in Toledo, Ohio, due to the COVID-19 virus.
All construction at the site will cease at the end of the business day on March 20 until further notice. Cleveland-Cliffs’ iron ore mining and steelmaking facilities will continue operations.
The Toledo plant is nearing completion and a June 2020 start-up will now be delayed. Cliffs anticipates the new facility will have a nominal capacity of 1.9 million metric tons of HBI per year.
Commenting on the temporary shutdown, Key Bank analyst Phil Gibbs said,” We expect other players in the metals and mining supply chain to further stagger or delay growth capex projects in an effort to protect workforces and preserve corporate liquidity amidst challenging near-term demand trends.”
