US-headquartered Cleveland-Cliffs, a major iron ore producer in North America, has announced that it has temporarily shut down the construction activities at its hot briquetted iron (HBI) project site in Toledo, Ohio. The decision was taken due to Covid-19 virus concerns. According to its official statement, the company will continue to monitor the situation and will restart the construction of the HBI plant as soon as possible. “All other Cleveland-Cliffs iron ore mining and steelmaking facilities will remain in operation,” the company said.
Cleveland-Cliffs was expected to start selling HBI in June this year, as SteelOrbis reported earlier. The complex has a designed capacity of 1.9 million mt of HBI per year.