Cleveland-Cliffs plans $1B upgrade at Middletown Works steel plant

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) announced a $1 billion investment in its Middletown Works steel plant in Middletown, Ohio, with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) providing $500 million of the total funding through a rescoped grant.

The investment will be split equally between Cleveland-Cliffs and the DOE and is expected to be deployed over four years while steel production continues uninterrupted. The project is set to begin within weeks, with completion of a blast furnace rebuild planned for the first quarter of 2030.

Planned upgrades include blast furnace modernization, advanced material handling infrastructure, and artificial intelligence-enabled process control technologies. The project also includes construction of a cogeneration facility designed to capture blast furnace gas for on-site electricity and steam generation, reducing reliance on externally supplied power.

Middletown Works currently produces approximately 3 million tons of raw steel annually and is Cleveland-Cliffs' primary facility for automotive-grade steel used in exposed parts of cars, trucks, and SUVs. The company said the investment is expected to preserve 2,300 jobs at the facility.

At peak construction, the project is expected to employ more than 1,500 workers, including local union building trades members.

Vice President J.D. Vance and U.S. Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright attended an event at the plant to mark the announcement, along with federal and state elected officials from Ohio.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lourenco Goncalves said the investment goes "above and beyond a standard blast furnace reline" and that the DOE's support reflects "the importance of preserving the blast furnace route to produce automotive-exposed grade steels in the U.S."

Cleveland-Cliffs, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, employs approximately 25,000 people across operations in the United States and Canada.

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