In a statement Tuesday, chairman and chief executive Lourenco Goncalves said a recovering steel market is prompting the actions. 

“The demand for our steel, iron ore and metallics products has recovered dramatically over the past month, and in light of this, we are restarting Toledo and Tilden sooner than we originally expected,” Goncalves said. 

“We suspended these operations in a way that allowed us to restart as easily and efficiently as possible, and that is what we will do. Our footprint is well situated to capitalize on the rapidly increasing demand from the automotive sector, which is occurring faster than our most aggressive expectations.”

The company suspended work on the HBI plant in March and idled its Tilden mine in mid-April. The shutdown was temporary – it had expected to restart the facility in July. But AK Steel customers, particularly its automotive customers, are beginning to return sooner than expected, so the mine will reopen later this month, the company said. 

As for the HBI plant, the company said construction crews are being recalled. 

“Due to mandatory social distancing and other newly implemented safety related measures limiting the number of workers allowed to be present simultaneously on the job, construction is now expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year,” Cliffs said. 

The company said it already has restarted other facilities that were temporarily shuttered through the COVID-19 lockdowns this spring. Those facilities include AK Tube, the Mansfield Works in Ohio and downstream lines at the Dearborn Works in Michigan.