Kobe Steel, Ltd. has signed a final agreement with Mesabi Nugget, LLC for the construction and operation of an ITmk3® demonstration plant in northeastern Minnesota. The project is intended to further develop the ITmk3 Process at a scaled-up level in anticipation of commercial operation.
The Kobe Steel-developed ITmk3 Process is a new iron-making technology that, in a rotary hearth furnace, turns iron ore fines and pulverized coal into iron nuggets of the same quality as blast furnace pig iron. The ITmk3 Process emits 20 percent less carbon dioxide than blast furnace operations. Reduction, melting and slag removal takes only about 10 minutes. In addition, capital investment is projected at roughly half the cost of conventional iron-making technologies.
The 25,000-ton-per-year demonstration plant will be built at the Northshore Mining taconite plant in Silver Bay owned by Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
Construction is scheduled to begin in August. After the plant is completed in March 2003, plans call for the facility to be operated for one year. Overall construction and operating costs for the demonstration plant are expected to amount to $24 million.