Cliffs Resumes HBI Plant Construction

Cleveland-Cliffs will resume construction on its Hot-Briquetted Iron plant in Toledo earlier than expected. Construction was halted on March 20, 2020, due to the pandemic, but will resume with newly implemented safety measures. Cleveland-Cliffs plans to complete the HBI facility during the fourth quarter of this year.

The Tilden mine that supplies AK Steel Middletown and Dearborn will restart later this month. The mine was idled in mid-April with a restart scheduled for July. The accelerated return to operation is due to improved steel demand from AK Steel’s clients, particularly the auto sector.

“The demand for our steel, iron ore and metallics products has recovered dramatically over the past month, and in light of this, we are restarting Toledo and Tilden sooner than we originally expected,” said Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves. “We suspended these operations in a way that allowed us to restart as easily and efficiently as possible, and that is what we will do. Our footprint is well situated to capitalize on the rapidly increasing demand from the automotive sector, which is occurring faster than our most aggressive expectations.”

Cliffs has already restarted numerous other previously idled facilities across the company, including Precision Partners, AK Tube, Mansfield Works and the Dearborn downstream facilities, including the PLTCM and the galvanizing line.