ArcelorMittal has said the Hibbing Taconite iron ore mine and plant in Minnesota’s Iron Range will not restart operations at the end of July as initially planned when it entered its COVID-19 shutdown. HibTac announced in April it would shut down from May 3 to July 6.
But the company now says the goal is to bring back its 650 employees at the end of July and resume full production by Aug. 6.
The taconite mine and pelletizing plant will now be closed until August 6, while employees will be called back from layoffs beginning July 27.
ArcelorMittal operates the plant and owns 62.3% of the venture, alongside Cleveland-Cliffs at 23% and US Steel with 14.7%. Hibtac, which produces 7.8 million tonnes of taconite annually, and mines about 29 million t of ore annually, had to lay 650 employees off in April as the shutdown began.