REGIONAL— The U.S. Steel Corporation announced this week that it plans to break ground this fall on a new $150 million direct reduced iron (DRI) production facility on Minnesota’s Iron Range. The company has yet to decide the location for the facility but indicated it would be associated with either its Minntac taconite processing plant in Mt. Iron or its Keetac facility near Keewatin.
This will enable one of the company’s existing taconite pelletizing plants the option to produce DR-grade pellets while maintaining the option to continue production of blast furnace-grade pellets. In doing so, the decision will help the company supply domestic feedstock to its growing fleet of electric arc furnaces, which utilize DRI or scrap metal.
Both types of pellets would be produced from existing taconite reserves, but the DRI pellets have a much higher iron count, about 95 percent, compared to roughly 65 percent for taconite pellets. That allows them to be used as direct feed for electric arc furnaces. Taconite pellets need to be further refined in a blast furnace before they can be converted to steel products.
The company noted that it will also have the ability to sell its direct reduced iron pellets to other steel producers. While the DRI grade pellets would represent a new product line for U.S. Steel, it would not be the first company to produce DRI on the Iron Range. Cleveland Cliffs completed construction of a DRI plant at its Silver Bay processing facility in 2019, although the company recently announced that the company’s DRI will be produced at its Minorca Mine in the future. Mesabi Nugget, which built the region’s first DRI plant in Hoyt Lakes back in the late 2000s, shut down after several years of operation.
U.S. Steel officials say their planned investment reflects the company’s commitment to enhancing domestic steel production. “Our conviction remains that steel mined, melted, and made in America is vital to our national and economic security,” said David B. Burritt, President and CEO of U. S. Steel. “We are strategically investing in our raw materials that will feed the advanced steel mills of today and tomorrow, making us increasingly self-sufficient. It’s another way that we’re supporting domestic manufacturing, simplifying complex global supply chains, addressing the sustainability demands of our customers, and ultimately creating profitable steel solutions for people and the planet.”
U.S. Steel’s proposed plant is still subject to regulatory approval and permitting.