From: Al
Location: Duluth
Email:
Remote Name: 137.81.232.14
Date: 05/28/03
Time: 01:16:01 PM
Here's the situation as I understand it: Taconite pellets are consumed only by blast furnaces. As more blast furnaces are phased out in the coming decades, there will be less demand for pellets. Iron nuggets, on the other hand, could be consumed by the electric arc furnaces used in mini mills. This is an entirely separate and new market for ore. In recent decades, the U.S. steel industry has built mini mills while integrated plants have been closing. Up to know, most minimills have been fueled by scrap steel. As mini mill technology improves, these plants can produce better quality of steel. If the iron ore producers want to be part of the mini mill generation, they need to come up with a product that can be used in electric furnaces -- and that would be some sort of direct-reduced iron or iron nuggets. No doubt, iron nuggets could be a double-edged sword if integrated mills decide to use them -- it would mean more iron in fewer tons, just as taconite pellets meant more iron in fewer tons than red ore. Overall, though, I think it's important for the iron ore industry to look at this value-added product, just as it did in coming up with taconite pellets.
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