Cleveland-Cliffs invests $100 million in DR iron plant, $830 million in HB iron plant

August 12, 2019
Source:

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Cleveland, announces that has started up new production equipment, including supporting infrastructure, to support large-scale commercial production of DR-grade iron pellets at its Northshore Mining facility in Babbitt, Minnesota. The plant will be completed on schedule and within a total investment budget of $100 million. Cleveland-Cliffs invested in upgrading the concentrator building, a new scavenger building, new conveyor systems, a limestone tank, and a steam-generating plant to support large-scale commercial production of DR-grade pellets. With the conclusion of the project, Northshore Mining will be the only U.S.-based iron ore processing facility to produce low-silica DR-grade pellets.

The company also announces that it has invested $830 million in a hot briquetted iron plant in Toledo, Ohio. The Northshore operation will immediately start to produce DR-grade pellet feedstock for this HBI plant, which  will be commissioned in mid-2020, as well as DR-grade pellets to be exported to a new clientele of DRI producers outside the United States.

Founded in 1847, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is the largest and oldest independent iron ore mining company in the United States. The company is a major supplier of iron ore pellets to the North American steel industry from its mines and pellet plants located in Michigan and Minnesota. By 2020, Cliffs expects to be the sole producer of hot briquetted iron in the Great Lakes region with the development of its first production plant in Toledo.

www.clevelandcliffs.com

Höganäs launches iron-based Rockit welding powders to combat impact/abrasive wear

July 24, 2019
Source:

Höganäs AB, Sweden, launches its new Rockit 606/706 welding powders, which prolong component lifetime in tough wear environments such as the oil & gas and mining & construction industries. The new welding powders feature a unique combination of high impact and abrasive wear resistance, and are robust to process variations. Rockit 606 is recommended for laser cladding, while Rockit 706 is the suitable choice for the plasma transferred arc (PTA) welding process.

“Rockit 606/706 are iron-based and have a martensitic structure with finely dispersed vanadium carbides,” says Hans Keller, President of Product Area Surface & Joining Technologies at Höganäs. “This combination provides excellent wear characteristics and a consistent high hardness, together with a good impact resistance. The materials have excellent welding properties and achieve a smooth deposit.”

“Rockit 606/706 applied on wear plates for dozer blades during field tests showed that cladding material costs can be reduced by 30%, while maintaining the same lifespan achieved with other industry solutions,” says Martin Lohrman, application specialist at the Höganäs ArcX coatings center in Johnstown.

With this product launch, Höganäs adds new materials to the Rockit family, a series of specialty alloys to extend component lifetime. “We are building on the success of the previously launched Rockit 401 material, a sustainable solution to replace hard chrome plating. The material has quickly become a standard in the mining and construction industry,” says Mr. Keller.

Rockit is part of Höganäs’ extensive portfolio of surface coating solutions that grew rapidly through its acquisition of H.C. Starck’s Surface Technology division in 2018.

www.hoganas.com

OECD says global steelmaking capacity could grow by as much as 5% by 2021

July 14, 2019
Source:

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris, reports that global steelmaking capacity declined slightly in 2018, but projects that are underway now or have been proposed could bring about more than 100 million metric tons of new capacity over the next three years.

In a new report on the world’s excess steelmaking capacity, the OECD said that nominal capacity stood at 2.23 billion metric tons at the end of 2018. While that represents a decline of about 0.3% over 2017 and follows an ongoing deceleration in capacity growth, capacity growth could speed back up. According to the OECD, 87.8 million tons of new capacity is being built now, and there are plans for an additional 22.4 million metric tons of capacity.

“Should these projects be realized, global steelmaking capacity could increase by approximately 4% to 5% between 2019 and 2021 in the absence of closures. In the context of global excess capacity, it will be important for policymakers to continue closely monitoring investments and closures that take place in the steel industry,” the OECD said. The biggest jump in capacity could occur in Asia, where 53.4 million metric tons of gross capacity additions are currently underway and 10 million metric tons are in the planning stages. Several capacity investments are also taking place in the Middle East region, where investment projects amounting to 25.1 million metric tons of capacity are currently underway, and due for completion in the next three years.

https://www.oecd.org/sti/ind/steelcapacity.htm

AFC-Holcroft integral-quench systems to heat-treat mining and rock-drilling tools

August 17, 2018
Source: ASM International