Cleveland, Ohio-based mining company Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. announced Tuesday plans to dissolve its Michigan Iron Nuggets Joint Venture with Kobe Steel. In 2007, the joint venture was formed to explore the practicality of constructing a commercial operation to produce a pig iron substitute using Kobe's ITmk3 technology and Cliffs' iron ore assets with the plant permitted for construction near Cliffs' operations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The substitute was anticipated to be marketed as a feedstock to the electric arc furnace and foundry markets.
Cliffs indicated that throughout the life of the venture it had conducted a number of feasibility studies on the possibility of pursuing a commercially viable process, but ultimately concluded that given its strategic priorities to focus on its core business, continued work on the project should be ended.