Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (“Cliffs”) today announced that it will be resuming construction of its Hot-Briquetted Iron (HBI) plant in Toledo, Ohio, and accelerating the restart of its Tilden mining operations in Michigan.
The Tilden mine primarily supplies the Company’s own AK Steel facilities in Middletown, Ohio and Dearborn, Michigan. The mine was idled in mid-April, with a restart previously expected in July. The company now plans to restart Tilden later this month. The earlier restart of Tilden comes in response to a faster improvement in steel demand from AK Steel’s clients than initially anticipated, particularly in the automotive sector.
State Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, issued the following statement on Wednesday, after Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. announced Tuesday that it will restart its Tilden mining operations this month.
“The sooner-than-expected reopening of the Tilden mine is great news for Marquette County and a shot in the arm for all of us in the U.P.,” McBroom said. “Despite the many difficulties brought about by COVID-19, it is great to see that industries and businesses are poised and positioned to rapidly return to work as government restrictions ease.
“That Cliffs was ready to answer the call to meet the pent-up and growing demand of the auto industry for steel and reopen the Tilden mine ahead of schedule is a testament to its leadership and hardworking U.P. employees.”
Cliffs’ Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Lourenco Goncalves said, “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. 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.”
The construction of the Toledo HBI plant was temporarily shut down on March 20, 2020, and the Company has now begun the process of remobilizing the workforce to complete the project. Due to mandatory social distancing and other newly implemented safety related measures limiting the number of workers allowed to be present simultaneously on the job, construction is now expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.
Cliffs has already restarted numerous other previously idled facilities across the footprint, including Precision Partners, AK Tube, Mansfield Works, and the Dearborn downstream facilities, including the PLTCM and the galvanizing line.
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