Iron ore from Minnesota's Iron Range will help feed United States Steel Corp.'s Big River Steel mini mill.

United States Steel said Monday it will invest $60 million into its Gary Works steel mill in Gary, Ind., to produce pig iron.

The pig iron, which will be fed into Big River Steel electric arc furnaces, will be made from iron ore produced at U.S. Steel's northeastern Minnesota taconite plants.

“U.S. Steel's low-cost iron ore is an important strategic advantage for the company,” said David Burritt, U.S. Steel president and chief executive officer. “Our ability to control this important steelmaking input is a valuable competitive differentiator for our growing fleet of electric arc furnaces. An investment in pig iron is an important first step to translating our low-cost iron ore advantage to our EAF footprint while driving efficiencies at Gary Works.”

U.S. Steel operates Minntac Mine in Mountain Iron and Keetac in Keewatin. It's also part-owner of Hibbing Taconite Co. near Hibbing and Chisholm.

It's not known yet which of U.S. Steel's Iron Range taconite plants would provide feed to make the pig iron.

Regardless of which taconite plant the feed comes from, United Steelworkers (USW) leaders say the announcement is positive news.

“It's good news for us, that's about all I can tell,” said Jake Friend, USW Local 2660 president at Keetac. “Anytime we can support electric arc furnaces, it's good for us.”

Permitting for the pig iron facility is underway, according to U.S. Steel.

Construction is expected to begin in the first half of 2022 toward production in the first half of 2023.

When complete, the pig iron facility will produce 500,000 tons of pig iron annually.

Mini mills use scrap and high-value iron products to make steel.

The pig iron facility will provide 50 percent of Big River Steel's other ore-based metallics needs, according to U.S. Steel.

A $3 billion expansion is underway at Big River Steel that will produce an additional three million tons of steel year through two electric arc furnaces.

Iron ore pellets produced in northeastern Minnesota for decades have been used to make steel in blast furnaces. The pellets typically contain about 62 percent iron.

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